


(Not) According to Plan

by birdyhands



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Bonding, Chit Sang doesn't exist in this one, Cuddling & Snuggling, Distrust, Enemies to Friends, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Episode: s03e10-11 The Day of Black Sun, Episode: s03e14-15 The Boiling Rock, Eventual Happy Ending, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Gen, Homophobia, Hurt Zuko (Avatar), Hurt/Comfort, Hypothermia, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, It's Zuko so ya, M/M, Minor Violence, Misunderstandings, Ozai (Avatar) is an Asshole, Power Dynamics, Prisoner Zuko (Avatar), Prisoner of War, Protective Sokka (Avatar), Sharing Body Heat, Threats of Violence, Zuko (Avatar) Gets a Hug, Zuko (Avatar) Needs a Hug, Zuko (Avatar) whump, he's not really in this but still, not really that's where the misunderstandings tag comes in but imma tag it anyway, zuko has daddy issues
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-22
Updated: 2021-01-19
Packaged: 2021-03-06 21:21:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 22
Words: 31,255
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26035582
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/birdyhands/pseuds/birdyhands
Summary: Zuko is just trying to survive Boiling Rock prison. He didn't make it out on time on the Day of Black Sun and frankly, he's lucky to be alive. His escape attempts have proven futile and he doesn't have any allies to speak of here. His best bet is keeping his head down and trying to survive.Sokka is just here to break his dad out. It's his fault his dad was captured and he needs to fix this. His plan is working well enough so far; he's made it here, he's disguised as a guard, no one suspects him, now he just has to find his dad and get out.Blue eyes meet gold. A flash of recognition. Shit just got a whole lot more complicated.
Relationships: Hakoda & Sokka (Avatar), Hakoda & Zuko (Avatar), Sokka & Suki (Avatar), Sokka & Zuko (Avatar), Sokka/Zuko (Avatar), Suki & Zuko (Avatar), The Gaang & Zuko (Avatar)
Comments: 914
Kudos: 2838
Collections: AtLA <50k fics to read, zukka





	1. What the hell are they doing here?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is just a little idea that's been rolling around my head for a while, I have an outline, but there are still some points that I'm undecided on, so I'm open to suggestions if there's specific things you'd like to see in this story! I'm planning on updating this work twice a week on Thursday and Sunday, but depending on when I work those days might move around a bit.

Sokka watches, teary-eyed as his father disappears into the distance. It had been such a short reunion and now he’s gone again. Boiling Rock, probably Teo’s father had said. Sokka watches as long as he can over the edge of the war balloon they’re using to escape. Teo, Haru, and Toph are all crowded into the war balloon with him; Katara, Aang, and The Duke riding separately on Appa in an effort to split the weight as their getaway is dependent on them being able to outrun anyone who might try to follow. 

As soon as Sokka can’t see his father anymore he’s unfolding maps searching for the prison that the mechanist had mentioned. Sokka’s pretty sure they wouldn’t risk putting the whole invasion party at the same prison, but his dad is also the chief of the southern water tribe and was one of the leaders of the invasion. Sokka’s hoping that makes him important enough to be sent to Boiling Rock. Not that he wants his dad in the most secure prison in the Fire Nation, but that’s where Sokka will be going to attempt to break his dad out. 

He hasn’t told any of the others about his plan. He knows it’s dangerous and reckless and they’ll try to talk him out of it, but he has to do this. This is his fault. He should have called off the invasion plan when they realized the Fire Lord knew they were coming. He should have cut their losses and left then. Now the Fire Lord is still alive and his father is going to be a war prisoner. 

***

Zuko doesn’t make it out in time. His father shoots lightning at him and although Zuko redirects it, he realizes he’s miscalculated. He’s supposed to be getting out of here by now. If the eclipse is over he’s going to have a lot harder of a time breaking his uncle out and getting out of here. He savors the shocked look on his father’s face as his lightning is redirected, and then Zuko runs before Ozai can do anything else. He’s stopped before he even makes it out of the underground tunnels, the dai li his sister has managed to gain the loyalty of turn the hallway in front of him into a solid wall before Zuko even recognizes their presence. When the earth rises up to throw him to his knees, trap him there, Azula emerges with a satisfied sneer on her face. 

“Oh Zuzu, are you ever going to learn? Going against dad is never going to end well for you.”

That was three days ago. Zuko supposes he should consider himself lucky to be alive. It’s hard to feel lucky however when he’s somehow the enemy of everyone in this prison- guards and prisoners alike. Either they’re loyal to the Fire Nation and hate him for being a traitor or they’ve got a bone to pick with him because he used to be the prince. 

It’s strange to think that he’s no longer a prince. Even when he was banished he was always Prince Zuko. He’s not sure how he feels about being stripped of the title. Part of him is relieved to be rid of the connection to Ozai. Another part feels heavy at the thought that he’ll never be Fire Lord. He doesn’t care about the power- frankly the way his father and grandfather wielded it have left him vaguely terrified of the unchecked power, but Zuko cares about his people. He wants things to be better for them and the idea that things would change when he was Fire Lord is a hard thing to let go of. 

The company surrounding him in the prison don’t care about his inner turmoil and Zuko doesn’t have enough time to sort out his feelings when he’s forced to be constantly on guard against the myriad of attacks he finds himself faced with from the guards, prisoners, and the warden. Even the cook hates him if his significantly reduced portions are anything to go by. He’s exhausted and hungry and high strung from not being able to bend. His last escape attempt and the resulting visit with the warden have left Zuko wincing everytime he puts weight on his right leg. Maybe that’s why he rises to the guards bait. 

***

Sokka leaves shortly after everyone else is asleep. He writes a note saying he’s going fishing, lights a torch with the glowing embers of their fire, and makes his way back to the war balloon they had hidden in the forest. There’s still plenty of fuel on the balloon and Sokka uses the torch to get the balloon off the ground, a difficult thing to accomplish alone, and he’s off. He’s pretty sure he had spotted the prison on their way to the air temple, but he still hunches over the maps and checks his heading incessantly.

He doesn’t have much of a plan if he’s being honest. The balloon is likely a one way ticket and he doesn’t know enough about the prison to plan out the escape in advance. As long as his dad is there, they’ll be able to figure something out. Tui and La, Sokka hopes his dad is there. 

The crash landing at the prison goes as smooth as a crash landing can and Sokka only hesitates a moment before throwing his shoulder against the balloon and pushing into the water. No going back now. It’s early morning by now, which works perfectly for Sokka who manages to steal a guard uniform from a closet and lie low until he’s summoned to the yard to help deal with a scuffle. 

The scuffle in the yard is not what Sokka expected. 

“I didn’t do anything. I’m going back to my cell.” The prisoner insists and Sokka wonders how old the guy is, his voice cracks and Sokka tells himself it’s gotta be a result of emotion rather than youth.

The prisoner makes to walk away, but the guard whips fire at him and the figure stops at the guards command. Sokka can see the fists of the prisoner clenched. He really hopes this doesn’t escalate. He’s not sure how to fulfil his role as prison guard if something happens without blowing his cover.

“I’ve had it with your unruly behavior!” The guard shouts. Sokka gets the distinct impression that this particular prisoner isn’t well liked if the smirking faces of other guards and prisoners is anything to go by. 

“What did I do?” Sokka still can’t see the prisoner’s face, but he can hear the exhaustion and frustration in his voice. His very young sounding voice. 

“He wants to know what he did. Isn’t that cute?” the guard sneers and Sokka, after a moment of hesitance responds that it is indeed “very cute, sir.” 

“You didn’t bow when I walked by.” The guard explains. There’s chuckles around the crowd and Sokka’s sure this isn’t a rule, but it’s apparently struck a nerve with the prisoner beyond just being unfair.

“That’s not a rule and I wouldn’t bow to you even if it were.” The prisoner responds, fists working open and closed angrily. 

When the Prisoner tries to walk away again, the guard whips thick tendrils of fire at him with enough force that the prisoner has no choice but to bend the flames away to avoid being badly burned. 

The guard tsks at him as though disappointed before sentencing him to the cooler for firebending and singling out Sokka and another guard to take the prisoner there. 

Okay, so up until now the scuffle in the yard hasn’t been too unexpected. Sokka’s uncomfortable with the injustice of it, but it’s not like he came here with any delusions that the Fire Nation prison guards were going to be especially nice. 

The jerky guard making up stupid rules about bowing, forcing the prisoner into defending himself, and then insisting that the prisoner be punished for firebending isn’t too out there, but when Sokka steps forward to help restrain the prisoner and bring him to the cooler, he gets his first look at the prisoner’s face and the face that glares back at him is entirely unexpected. Familiar gold eyes, pale skin, a sharp jawline, and most shockingly, the massive burn scar covering the left side of his face. 

What the hell is the prince of the Fire Nation doing in one of their most secure prisons?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> comments are very appreciated!


	2. The Cooler is Cold and Other Revelations

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay I know I said Sundays and Thursdays, but I got a little ahead with writing stuff, so I'm putting out this chapter a day early. It's been super awesome to see the response from you guys just with the first chapter and I'm just super excited about this fic:)

Sokka wants to just forget about it, focus on finding his dad, and let Zuko rot in prison, but when he twists the firebenders arm behind his back, Zuko struggles against him, turns his head to give the guard a nasty glare, and meets Sokka’s eyes. The look of shock on Zuko’s face is enough to tell Sokka he’s been recognized.

Sokka supposes that he’s lucky Zuko doesn’t just blow his cover right then and there, but the compliance Zuko shows as he’s forced forward, limping between Sokka and the other guard is honestly disconcerting and as much as he wishes he could just ignore this, something isn’t right here. Zuko could blow Sokka’s cover in a heartbeat if he wanted to and Sokka doesn’t exactly have a backup plan. He’s going to have to talk to the prince and ensure he doesn’t ruin everything. Whether that is through threats, bribery, or false promises, Sokka doesn’t care. The prince has caused enough problems for him and he’s not about to let him get in the way of rescuing his father. 

***

Zuko knows those eyes. The peasant can claim he’s just a colonial all he wants, but Zuko’s never met anyone else with that exact color of eyes. Certainly not in the Fire Nation. It’s the Water Tribe peasant helping to drag him to the cooler and Zuko’s so shocked he isn’t even fighting the guy. What the hell is he doing here? Zuko wracks his brains for an answer and his brain helpfully supplies that he’s probably going crazy and the Water Tribe boy is a hallucination. 

Zuko twists his neck to get another look. It forces his arm painfully further up his back, but Zuko is able to ascertain that the blue eyed guard is not a figment of his sleep and food deprived brain and most certainly is the same Water Tribe boy who has been traveling with the avatar all this time. 

He’s here for Suki. Zuko realizes with a start that his one grudging ally in this hellhole knows Sokka. Dated Sokka? Zuko is unclear on the exact nature of their relationship, but he’s pretty sure they had something going on at some point. Whatever, that’s not the point. The point is that the Water Tribe boy must be here to break Suki out. He panics momentarily. He can’t exactly consider Suki a friend he doesn't think, but she kicked his ass the first day he was here in retaliation for burning her village down and since then they have ended up with a sort of understanding. Neither of them are popular in the prison. Or maybe they’re both a little too popular. Either way, they aren’t enemies and that is more than Zuko can say for pretty much anyone else in here. He wonders what he’ll have to do to get them to take him with when they escape. 

He’s pulled out of his thoughts when the other guard shifts his arm further up his back to unlock the cooler door before both Sokka and the guard throw him forward. He doesn’t have the time or forethought to catch his fall and he slams to his knees, shoulder hitting the back wall hard enough to make him clench his teeth to keep from groaning. He manages to look back just in time to meet the Water Tribe boy’s eyes and he hopes that he isn’t planning on getting out of here before Zuko can at least talk to him. 

***

The cooler is cold. That sounds obvious in retrospect, but as Sokka peers through the small window to see the way the firebender pulls his limbs in, shaking and shivering bad enough that Sokka’s sure that his muscles are aching from it, it’s all he can think. Growing up in the South Pole, Sokka knows how people react to the cold. He’s seen it, he’s felt it, he’s pretty good at gauging how dangerous temperatures are by feel alone, and the draft of air that whooshed out of the cooler when they had shoved Zuko in had been very cold. Bad cold. Cold enough that Sokka was surprised by the cold. The cold doesn’t normally surprise you when you come from the South Pole. 

“So…” He tries for nonchalance as he turns to the guard that had brought Zuko here with him, “how long are we gonna leave him there for?” 

The guard answers with a shrug “It’ll probably be a while, you know how the warden is with this one.” 

Sokka absolutely does not know how the warden is with ‘this one’, but something settles uncomfortably in his stomach as he thinks it can’t mean anything good. Sokka tells himself it’s just because extra attention from the warden is the last thing he wants and it might make it harder to have a one-on-one chat with Zuko, but he can’t fully ignore the sympathy he feels for the firebender. He might be an enemy and the actual worst, but he’s still just a kid. He’s barely older than Sokka and the way his voice had sounded so young before Sokka had even gotten a look at his face tugs at something protective in his chest. 

“Speaking of…” the guard next to him mutters, straightening up and nodding down the hall.

Sokka mimics the same straight backed posture with his hands behind his back as an important looking man flanked by two guards marches down the hall towards them. 

***

The door to the cooler opens and Zuko raises his head from the curled up position he had adopted in a desperate bid to conserve heat. The warden towers over him and before Zuko can get to his feet of his own accord, the warden has twisted a fist into the front of Zuko’s tunic hauling him painfully to his feet. On second thought, Zuko isn’t sure he can manage to stay on his feet without the warden’s fist forcing him to. His head drops involuntarily, the exhaustion and lack of food a hundred times worse when combined with the freezing cold. Agni, it’s only been a few minutes and he already feels too weak to stand. 

“Look me in the eye, Zuko.” the warden demands, the hand that’s not fisted in Zuko’s tunic grabs a handful of his hair and yanks his head back until his throat is bared and he’s looking up at the warden’s face. Zuko wants to resist, but can’t muster the strength to put up any real fight against the hands holding him in place.

“I hear you used firebending to try to escape today.”

“I wasn’t trying to escape this time.” 

Zuko’s not sure why he bothers telling the warden this. It never makes any difference who started it or why he did it or if he even did it. Once the warden has something to blame Zuko for, Zuko gets the blame and whatever punishment comes with it and there’s no reasoning his way out of it, but it still feels important that he wasn’t actually trying to escape this time. As expected the warden ignores him. And Zuko finds himself ignoring the warden in favor of deliberately meeting the blue eyes staring at him from just outside the door. 

The warden stops talking and lets go of Zuko’s tunic leaving him to crumple at the warden’s feet where the warden takes the opportunity to aim one hard kick at his ribs before leaving. Zuko groans. His bones ache from exhaustion, his skin prickles with cold, and despite the decidedly uncomfortable icy floor, Zuko can hardly keep his eyes open. 

*** 

Zuko passes out eventually and Sokka keeps walking by the cooler to try to see if he’s okay. Sokka watches with increasing concern as the firebender’s breathing becomes shallow and his lips turn blue. Just as Sokka is about to drag Zuko out of there and come up with his excuses later, the guard who had helped him drag Zuko here earlier comes back down the hall announcing that they should bring him back to his cell. 

Together they lift the teenager by his arms, Zuko barely stirs at the jostling, and they pull him up a set of stairs to a metal door that the other guard unlocks. The guard says something about bringing the prisoner his meal and leaves Sokka to haul Zuko over to the uncomfortable looking mat that must serve as his bed. Sokka positions Zuko’s limbs as best he can to conserve heat, covers him in the single thin blanket, and reluctantly heads to the cell door. 

The guard returns with a bowl that holds what appears to be only a few bites of rice and nothing else. The other guard looks as concerned about Zuko being on the mat and covered with a blanket as Sokka must about the tiny portion of food. Neither of them say anything however, and Sokka is grateful he doesn't have to defend his actions. 

Sokka plans to wait here until Zuko regains consciousness. It’s late enough that the prisoners have returned to their cells for the night and he won’t have any success looking for his dad tonight. He might as well figure out what to do about the prince. 

Sokka stays as late as he can without being suspicious, but Zuko doesn’t stir and Sokka eventually has to abandon the hallway when the night guard rotation takes their positions and one of them looks at Sokka questioningly. He’ll talk to Zuko tomorrow. 

***

Zuko wakes up to a guard entering his cell with a small bowl that Zuko figures must be his breakfast. The guard enters, looks down, smirks, and leaves. With the food. Zuko realizes the bowl of rice that must have been his missed dinner from last night. It’s not enough. He needs the breakfast too. Zuko’s fading. He’s ended up in the cooler every day since he’s gotten here and while at first it was bearable, he doesn’t have enough energy to use his breath of fire to keep warm with how little food he’s been given and how much time he’s spent in the cooler. 

Zuko shrugs off his blanket to retrieve the rice and then freezes as something clicks in his mind. He just woke up. On his mat. Covered with his blanket. Zuko knows he didn’t regain consciousness last night after passing out in the cooler. The guards don’t put him on his mat and tuck him in with a blanket, they throw him in the cell and he wakes up still cold and achy on the stone floor. Adrenaline is rapidly replenishing Zuko’s depleted energy as something fierce and hopeful takes shape in his mind. The Water Tribe peasant helped him. Just a little, but enough that Zuko is optimistic. 

He’s undeniably still feeling the aftereffects of the cooler in addition to the myriad of minor injuries he’s sustained in the few days he’s been here, but the idea that he could get out of here, go with the Water Tribe boy, do what he told his father he would on the Day of Black Sun, energizes Zuko more than the cold rice could hope to. 

He just needs to find some way to talk to Sokka.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So there we have it, chapter 2:) Zuko is not having a great time in prison, Sokka is concerned, and they're both ready to have a chat about it. Next chapter will probably be out tomorrow as I have it written and just need to do a little editing on it. Let me know what y'all think so far:D


	3. What are /You/ Doing Here??

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 3 is up! Thank you to everyone who commented on chapter 2 (especially you guys who noticed when my transferring it from google docs ended up repeating the chapter halfway through and let me know lol). I hope you guys enjoy this one:)

Sokka is quickly discovering that Zuko is apparently very popular here. He plans to confront him in the yard, but there are several guards who seem to have nothing better to do than tormenting Zuko. Passing an inconspicuous message in the hall is impossible when Zuko is constantly the center of attention of guards and prisoners alike. The cafeteria doesn’t work because apparently an escape attempt on his second day means all of Zuko’s meals are brought to his cell. 

The first chance Sokka gets to talk to the prince is less than ideal. A bright red burn spiraling up Zuko’s arm from another prisoner is bad enough to warrant minimal medical attention in the form of Sokka and another guard taking Zuko to a small room that functions as an infirmary to apply a salve and bandage it to avoid infection. The other guard is still with them and Sokka’s not about to say anything, but when his inexperience at treating burns becomes evident in the way he applies the salve and the other guard corrects his technique, Zuko breaks his silence with a chuckle. 

“Seems like you don’t have much experience treating burns,” Zuko says with a meaningful look at Sokka.

“Is that a threat?” Sokka asks. 

Zuko doesn’t answer verbally, but his eyes go wide telling Sokka that’s not what he meant. The other guard, apparently interpreting Zuko’s reaction as fear laughs. Sokka thinks it over again and then understanding dawns. Because Zuko is right. He _doesn’t_ have much experience treating burns. Zuko’s been tracking them for months- they’ve fought countless times, but the only burns their group has sustained were from Aang’s first attempts at firebending when he burned Katara. 

The revelation smacks Sokka in the face and he blinks slowly for several seconds processing what this means. _Zuko has never burned any of them._ It’s not that he hasn’t had the chance. Sokka can think of a dozen different times when the firebender could have burned any one of them, but other than incessantly trying to capture Aang, Sokka is realizing that the prince has actually purposefully avoided hurting any of them. Sokka’s not sure what that means exactly, but he’s pretty sure Zuko is trying to convince Sokka to trust him. He finishes bandaging Zuko’s arm in the way that the guard had suggested and decides to bring Zuko his dinner tonight and hopefully have that chat. 

***

It’s evening and somehow Zuko has managed to avoid being sent to the cooler today. He’s pretty sure the Water Tribe boy, Sokka, Zuko reminds himself, had understood what he was saying earlier. Hopefully. He knows he’s been terrible to their little group, but after spending some time back at the palace he’s realized that his brand of terrible was significantly less than it could have been. And while ‘not as much of a jerk as I could have been’ isn’t really a winning argument, he’s hoping it counts for something. 

He thinks that it might. He’s seen the Water Tribe boy hovering around him all day as though trying to find an opening to talk to him. They haven’t been able to talk other than the brief exchange as the Water Tribe boy had bandaged his arm, but the looks that had been sent his way hadn’t been filled with the hatred or outright distrust Zuko would normally expect from him. They were still cautious, clearly suspicious of him, but Zuko would gladly take suspicion over outright hostility. 

When his cell door swings open and a guard steps in, carefully closing it behind him, Zuko is immediately on high alert. Nothing good can come from a guard sneaking into his cell like that. Then the guard holds out a bowl filled with much more food than Zuko has seen since he got here. It’s nothing special, some unidentified brown meat and bland rice, but the bowl is piled full and Zuko looks up in surprise to see blue eyes. Of course. 

“What are you doing here?” they both start at the same time and it’s so absurd that for a moment Zuko has the bizarre urge to laugh. The water tribe boy blinks at him for a moment and then, suspicion clouds his eyes and he says nothing. Zuko can’t blame him. He sighs.

“I confronted my father on the Day of Black Sun. I told him I was leaving to help teach the avatar firebending so that the avatar could defeat him. He didn’t take it well and I didn’t make it out in time.” 

The Water Tribe boy is staring at Zuko like he’s crazy. Maybe he is. The silence grows uncomfortable and Zuko shifts awkwardly feeling the need to say something. 

“I think he’s saving my execution for the day of my sister’s coronation.” 

Zuko doesn’t mean it to be funny, and by all logical accounts it’s not funny, but once he’s said it he can barely hold back a fit of hysterical laughter. Sokka must feel the same bizarre urge because he tries to cover a snort of laughter by passing it off as a cough. It takes a moment of holding his breath to avoid laughing outright, but then the Water Tribe boy does laugh. It’s a snorting, closed-mouth laugh that won’t attract the attention of other guards, but how is Zuko supposed to keep it together when even the normally fierce and serious Water Tribe warrior is struggling to hold back laughter? Then Zuko is laughing hard. The idea of his sister being bitter over having to share the spotlight with his execution is the funniest thing he’s ever thought of. He can’t breathe. He’s trying hard to be quiet so as to not alert any other guards, but holding it back just brings tears to his eyes as he gasps breathlessly and shakes from the strain of being quiet. 

Sokka is looking at him like he’s lost his mind even though he laughed first, but he’s also relaxed some and after a minute of watching Zuko struggle to breathe through his laughter, he’s once again doubled over. They both spend an absurdly long time trying to get a handle on their laughter only to look up, meet each other’s eyes, and lose any tentative control they’d had, dissolving once again into desperate wheezing laughter. 

Once they have both managed to regain control of themselves, wiping away tears and letting out a few last chuckles the awkwardness returns, though it feels less stifling than before, or maybe Zuko’s just too drained to recognize it. He has no clue what just happened. He looks at Sokka and his confusion must be evident because Sokka misinterprets it and answers the question that started this whole thing. 

“So umm, I’m here to bust my dad out,” Sokka says.

Zuko stares for a minute trying to force his mind into thinking about anything but the absurdity of a combined coronation/execution.

“Your dad’s here?”

“I don’t know. I haven’t been able to find him, but from what I heard this was where he would most likely be headed.” 

“Oh. I thought you were maybe here for Suki.”

“Suki’s here?”

“She’s maybe the only one who doesn't hate me here.”

“You sure about that? You kinda burned down her village.”

Zuko looks uncomfortable, his gaze shifts to the floor “I didn’t mean to.” 

He leans back against the wall, looks at the ceiling, looks at Sokka again. Sokka has got one eyebrow quirked up (no fair), with an expression of disbelief on his face.

“It was an accident, really. Besides she already kicked my ass for it.”

Sokka smirks slightly then leans against the wall himself, a contemplative expression taking over his features. 

“You’re not going to blow my cover then? You know… since you’re supposedly good now?” He says eventually and Zuko realizes this was probably the only reason the guy wanted to talk to him at all. Zuko’s shoulders droop.

“No. I won’t blow your cover.”

Sokka nods. He seems to still be deep in thought. “I need to talk to Suki,” he says before turning to leave.

Zuko experiences a brief moment of panic, “Wait! When you break them out of here… Will you… I mean… I can teach the avatar firebending. It’s what I meant to do when I confronted my father and I’ll help however I can I just… Please?” The words are ineloquent and Zuko isn’t sure he’s made sense at all. His heart is pounding and his hands twist desperately in his lap.

Sokka looks at him, his eyes are hard, but searching. He takes a deep breath as though thinking through his words carefully. 

“I don’t know if I can trust you. I want to give you a chance, but this wouldn’t be the first time you’ve gone to extremes to capture Aang. Shit, you were even imprisoned with my sister before, so I can’t trust that just because you’re here in prison it means you’re on our side. I’m not going to rule it out, but the reason my father is a war prisoner right now is that I made the decision to take a chance that I shouldn’t have. I don’t know if I’m ready to trust you enough to bring you in on an extremely delicate escape plan. I’m going to talk to Suki, we’ll figure something out.” 

Zuko doesn’t let his shoulders slump again. He looks Sokka in the eyes and nods. It hurts, but he understands the logic behind his decision and he’s not going to gain any trust by arguing with the guy. All he can do now is wait for Sokka to decide something and hope for the best.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So there we have it! The boys have finally talked! Granted, necessary conversations are far from finished, but at least they finally have established contact. Also, I know Sokka isn't exactly the "fierce and serious" guy Zuko thinks he is, but Zuko is getting to see a whole new side of Sokka here that he hasn't met before, so his perception of the guy is a little off:) Anyway, let me know what you think and thanks for reading as always:D
> 
> I work at an elementary school which will start tomorrow, so the next chapter might not be out for a few days. I should have it done by Wednesday at the latest.


	4. Just Because He is Bad Guy Doesn't Mean... he hasn't got an incredibly complex backstory that we should maybe consider in light of passing judgement on him

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I expected to get a lot further in my outline than I did in this chapter... I have a habit of underestimating how long dialogue stretches, so I apologize that this chapter doesn't further the plot a whole ton, but I am going to try to get the next chapter up either later tonight or tomorrow.

Sokka’s evening goes downhill after his conversation with Zuko. He’s triple checked with the other guards and the prison records, but his father isn’t here. He tries to console himself with the knowledge that Suki is, but the disappointment that his father isn’t is like a physical ache in his chest. 

Sokka has somehow over the course of their travels, ended up as the unofficial leader of their little group. Katara is mothering and mature, but he’s somehow become the decisions guy. Which is fair, he’s the oldest and he’s decent with plans, but he misses having a real adult around. The short time with his father before the invasion had made Sokka realize how out of his depth he was. Relaxing for all of five minutes and letting his dad take over had been refreshing and terribly foreign. He wants his dad to just hug him and take over for a minute and make everything okay again. 

He knows it’s a lot to ask. Everything hasn’t been okay since long before Sokka was born, but hopefully, they will be soon. And regardless, Sokka’s sure that if he just had his dad then things would _feel_ like they were okay. 

Sokka takes a breath, fortifies himself against the threatening wave of despair over how not okay things are, and heads towards the cellblock that the records showed Suki being in. 

Suki doesn’t recognize Sokka at first with the helmet covering most of his face, but when she realizes who it is (after throwing him against the wall and knocks his helmet off), her face brightens instantly. She embraces him and then holds him at arm’s length, clearly expecting him to explain his presence. They sit on the floor of her cell and he fills her in on the details of the Day of Black Sun and his plan (if it can be called that) to break his father out of prison. She admonishes him for his recklessness in coming here even as her eyes shine, clearly glad that he did. As much as he wants to just catch up with the warrior, the longer he spends there the higher the risk of getting caught. Sokka forces himself to address the topic of Zuko. 

“So, Zuko’s here.”

He doesn’t elaborate. He wants Suki’s honest reaction not swayed by whatever she might think he wants to hear. 

Her expression shifts to a serious and thoughtful one before she responds. 

“Yeah, we’ve met…” 

She pauses as if deciding her words carefully. 

“I don’t know for sure why he’s here, but the guards call him a traitor often enough that it seems like he really has betrayed the Fire Nation. He… He apologized for what he did to Kyoshi Island and I’m pretty sure he was being genuine. It’s like he’s a totally different person and I’m not totally sure what to make of it.”

She sighs and Sokka turns her words over in his mind. Suki must see the concentration on his face.

“Why? What are you thinking?” Suki asks.

“I’m not sure. I talked to him. He told me that on the Day of Black Sun, he confronted his father and told him he was going to find us and help Aang learn firebending. That’s how he ended up here, he didn’t make it out in time. He asked me to consider taking him with us when we made our escape. He swore he wouldn’t blow my cover even before he asked me to consider taking him along, but I don’t know… This guy has been a threat to us for long enough that it’s hard to see him as anything else, but...” 

There’s another thing that’s been on his mind though and he’s not sure how to express the complicated uncertainty about this specific aspect of Zuko’s story. He bites his lip in concentration, worries it between his teeth, then starts carefully. 

“While we were in Ba Sing Se, he and Katara got imprisoned together for a short while. When I talked to Zuko, I told him that that was part of the reason I was unsure if I could trust him. The fact that he’d been imprisoned alongside one of our’s before and only ended up turning against us… I guess he and Katara talked while they were there and he said some stuff that made her think she could trust him- that he wasn’t all bad but then he turned against us anyway when it came down to it and we almost lost Aang.”

Suki looks uneasy, Sokka can see that she’s reevaluating Zuko with this new information, but there’s another point here that he hasn’t made yet. He’s not telling her this just to make Suki distrust Zuko, he wants to explain the other side of this story that makes him feel all sorts of conflicted about the guy. 

“There’s more though… Katara told me some of what he said. She told him that the Fire Nation had killed our mother and he told her that was something they had in common. He said something about his scar ‘the mark of the banished prince’ he called it, and then when his sister showed up, when Zuko seemed to be undecided on which side he would fight for… Azula told him that if he joined her he would be able to redeem himself, he would have his father’s love, be able to go home… I just… the things he said, the fact that Azula was able to use those things as leverage to convince him… it seems like his past is a lot more complicated than we know.” 

Suki’s eyes betray no surprise, and Sokka assumes that her interactions with the prince must have led her to a similar conclusion. 

“I think you’re right, but no matter what sob stories he’s got in his past, we need to be sure that he’s not going to turn on us this time. I don’t like the idea of leaving him here, but taking him with us is a huge risk. Maybe you could talk to him, try to get a clearer picture of his motivations and make sure that he knows what he’s doing this time. If he’s gonna get cold feet halfway through the escape…”

Sokka nods. It’s a solid plan. He wants to give Zuko a chance and it seems like Suki does too, but if it’s a decision between giving Zuko a chance and his and Suki’s freedom, he’ll let Zuko rot here forever no matter how bad he might feel about it. 

“Alright. I’m going to patrol the perimeter tonight, try to come up with a plan for escaping this place and then I’ll talk to Zuko in the morning.” 

He hugs Suki again, carefully checks the hallway, slips out, and locks Suki’s cell once more.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So there we have it! Sokka and Suki are pretty observant and have realized that maybe there's more to this guy than just being an obsessive avatar-chasing jerk. Now they just have to decide what they're going to do about it:) Sorry to leave you guys with the same question of "will they take him" as I did last chapter, but I wanted to get Sokka's and Suki's perspectives on him fleshed out a little bit more. As always, I love to hear what you guys thought:D


	5. In Which Sokka has Questions and Zuko Isn't Ready to Answer Them

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Two chapters in one day, I ended up having the evening off from my second job and got some extra writing done:)

Sokka’s walk around the perimeter is productive. He has a plan. There’s a blind spot between two of the guard’s towers that is directly under the coolers. He tests the current and finds that the direction of the current will get them across in a matter of hours. The insulation of the cooler should be able to withstand the heat of the water while also providing enough buoyancy to float them across. It won’t be the most elegant boat, but Sokka’s confident it will work. This also relieves a bit of the stress of his internal debate. In order for this plan to work, someone will need to unbolt the cooler from the inside. Getting Zuko into the cooler to unbolt it is the easiest solution, and if he’s necessary to their escape plan, they’ll have to take him with. 

A terribly guilty, but practical part of his mind also reminds him of Zuko’s condition after the first time Sokka had seen him in the cooler. While he wants to trust Zuko, it’s a lot easier to do so when the guy is weak and unthreatening. He really does feel bad about it, but he’d rather feel a little guilty over distrusting Zuko than sacrificing Suki’s chance at freedom because he placed too much trust in him.

He’ll still try to talk to Zuko in the morning, but if the results of that are inconclusive (or only further complicate things as Sokka has a sneaking suspicion they might,) the default option will be using Zuko to get the cooler out and then bringing him with them. 

***

Zuko is pacing his cell. He’s on edge from not being able to bend and anxious about Sokka’s decision. When Sokka ducks into his cell with a large portion of breakfast, Zuko looks at him knowing that his attempts to hide his nervous and hopeful expression are failing. Sokka offers him the bowl of food and Zuko takes it but doesn’t start eating. He wants to know what decision Sokka has come to, he’s far too anxious to eat without knowing. 

Sokka sighs (that can’t be a good sign) and Zuko’s already nervous expression becomes even more pronounced as he shuffles his feet and readjusts the bowl in his hands waiting for confirmation of his fears. The words that come out of Sokka’s mouth, however, don’t clarify anything and Zuko finds himself confused. And maybe a little defensive.

“When you and Katara talked you said your scar was the mark of the banished prince. What did you mean by that?”

_What?_

Zuko’s thoughts are a tangle- he knows now that what his father did was cruel and wrong, he knows the Water Tribe boy would agree, but the shame internalized over the last three years isn’t so easy to brush off. His stomach twists and he slumps against the wall, setting the bowl on the ground. He’s not hungry anymore. He doesn’t want to tell this story. He looks at the floor. The silence lasts too long. 

“What does my scar have to do with anything?”

His voice is guarded, harsh, defensive. And Sokka looks surprised at it when Zuko’s eyes drag upward to his face. 

“Suki and I talked and we agreed that your past seems to be more complicated than we initially thought. We want to understand so we can decide how much to trust you.”

_Okay that actually makes sense._

Zuko sighs. He doesn’t think he can bring himself to explain it fully, but he’s willing to give Sokka the abridged version if he thinks it will help. He’s a little impressed with the Water Tribe peasant’s ability to zero in on perhaps the most influential piece of his personal history, but then again, the scar isn’t exactly subtle. He braces himself.

“I got the scar in an Agni Kai after disrespecting a general’s plan in a war meeting. My father saw my performance at the Agni Kai as shameful. He banished me directly afterward and my only chance of coming home was to bring back the Avatar in chains.”

He’s leaving out the most important details. He doesn’t tell Sokka that the plan he spoke out against was a plan that would have used a division of new recruits as bait knowing full well they would be slaughtered. He leaves out the fact that when he looked across the arena, it was his father ready to fight him. He doesn’t tell him about the words “you will learn respect, and suffering will be your teacher” that are burned into his mind. He doesn’t tell Sokka about the deceptively gentle caress of his father’s hand before he burned the shape of it into Zuko’s face, damaging his sight, his hearing, burning straight through hair and skin deep into Zuko’s flesh. He doesn’t tell him that he was _kneeling_ for Agni’s sake. He doesn’t say that he was unconscious for the first several days of his banishment from the severity of the burn or that he woke up on a ship hundreds of miles from home. He doesn’t point out that this was a hundred years after anyone had seen the avatar and that the task wasn’t meant to take him three years, it was supposed to take him his entire life. 

It doesn’t matter that he says none of this, the story plays through Zuko’s own mind with terrible clarity that leaves his head spinning; gruesome detail ties Zuko’s stomach in increasingly uncomfortable knots. Phantom flames lick at Zuko’s cheek and when Sokka makes a choked noise Zuko looks up and the position, him on the floor, Sokka standing above him is terribly familiar and Zuko jumps up. Tries to cover the panic in his eyes, ignore the worried look on Sokka’s face. 

“You didn’t like… kill the general or something, right? Like that’s not what you mean by your performance in the duel being shameful, right?”

“No. I didn’t kill him.” Zuko carefully phrases his response to not reveal anything more than he wants to, “my father was upset because I didn’t fight as hard as he wanted me to.”

It’s not quite true. He realizes now that there was no way for him to handle the Agni Kai correctly. He could only lose. But it’s close enough to the truth- it’s what his father had used as his excuse when he banished Zuko. 

“Oh.” Sokka just looks confused. He was clearly hoping that this would clear up something about Zuko and while it probably would be more enlightening if he were willing to reveal the whole thing, Zuko’s not sure he can. Some part of him wants to, but Zuko feels as if he’ll be physically sick if he tries to share anything more. 

“That’s not all…” He looks at the ground, “there’s… The story is more complicated than that-- that’s the very watered-down version... I just… It’s bad. It’s probably the worst day of my life and I think I can’t… I’ve never had to tell the story before, it’s just…” He looks at Sokka, eyes pleading that he understands. And somehow, Sokka seems to a little bit. 

***

Sokka’s not quite sure what to think. He wanted the full story, but he’s realizing that that was maybe too optimistic. The guy is missing like half his face, obviously, the experience is going to be a traumatic memory. 

“You’re not hiding this because you think I would leave you if I knew, right?” Sokka knows asking the guy outright like this isn’t exactly a foolproof plan, but Zuko wears his emotions as obviously as Katara does, maybe even more so, and Sokka’s almost certain he couldn’t fake the hurt and fear and bitterness and sorrow that have been reflected in his expressions over the past minutes not to mention the tears brimming his unscarred eye. Tui and La help him, but he believes the guy. 

“No, I don’t think telling you would make you want to leave me,” Zuko says with a degree of certainty that Sokka didn’t expect. He raises his eyebrows, not to challenge Zuko’s statement, but purely out of surprise. “I did the right thing. In that war meeting and in the Agni Kai. I shouldn’t have hunted you guys, I’ve done a lot of wrongs, a lot that I’m sorry for, but I did the right thing three years ago.” His eyes are fiercely determined and so certain that Sokka believes him entirely. 

He sighs. It’s not exactly the understanding he’d hoped to gain when he asked Zuko about it, but Sokka had already figured that this discussion might not clear up everything. And he needs Zuko for the plan. 

“I’m trusting you,” He says hardening his face to show his seriousness, “do not mess this up.” And he starts explaining the plan.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, not quite the scar reveal we all know and love, but they're still a little cautious of each other and no way is Zuko ready to tell a mostly stranger that whole story! Don't worry, we'll get more into this as they get to know each other better:) I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter, let me know what you liked:D
> 
> Next chapter should be up tomorrow:)


	6. The Cooler is Cold and Zuko is... Hot???

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 6:D Once again I have underestimated how long my scenes go on for and this fic is going to be a lot more chapters than I first anticipated lol. No worries, we are getting to the good stuff!

“I’m trusting you. Do not mess this up.”

Zuko knows its meant to be serious. Maybe a little threatening. But the word ‘trust’ lingers in his mind and he feels his face flush. He’s not sure why he blushes, but having people trust him isn’t the most familiar feeling to him and for whatever reason, it feels more meaningful to be trusted by Sokka than it ever did to be trusted by his uncle or his crew or the Earth Kingdom family that had helped him out when he was traveling on his own. 

Maybe it’s just because of how seriously Zuko is taking Sokka’s trust. This isn’t trust that he’s just acquired by chance through actions he was already doing, this is trust he’s focusing on, working for, trust that he’s not going to betray. 

Sokka tells him about the plan and Zuko is surprised at his ingenuity. He really shouldn’t be at this point. The guy managed to get in here, disguise himself as a guard, avoid detection so far, and from what Zuko’s heard, he was also the mastermind behind the invasion plan. No wonder he never managed to actually catch the avatar when he consistently disregarded his companions as Water Tribe peasants and savages. He feels bad about that now, but he has to admit, it’s ended up working out in his favor that he never managed to capture the avatar. If being locked in a top security prison, surrounded by people who despise him, awaiting his own execution while desperately trying to convince a boy who was once his enemy to trust him can be counted as ‘things working out in his favor’. 

In order for the plan to work, Zuko will have to firebend, then Sokka will put him in the cooler where Zuko will unbolt it from the inside. It’s a simple enough task, but the thought of going back to the cooler again turns Zuko’s stomach. It will take time to unbolt the cooler and Zuko knows it will weaken him during the actual escape. That should be fine, their escape plan is basically to disappear in the middle of the night and be long gone by the time anyone realizes. There shouldn’t be any confrontation where Zuko will need too much strength… The vulnerability of it still makes him nervous though. 

When a guard grabs Zuko by the shoulders later, clearly intending to hurt him, Zuko lets out a blast of flame. He doesn’t burn the guard, but it feels good to get close enough to see the previously sneering guard stumble back, pulling his arms away from Zuko’s shoulders. Zuko smirks at the guy and then Sokka is there, as planned, his grip yanking Zuko’s arms back harsh enough that Zuko actually loses his footing and stumbles back, arms wrenching uncomfortably. He struggles against Sokka enough to avoid alerting anyone else to their conspiration, but Sokka’s grip has no give in it as he drags Zuko towards the cooler at the end of the hall that will be the easiest to get out undetected. 

There’s no opportunity to communicate with each other due to the other guards in the hall, but Sokka gives away nothing as another guard helpfully opens the door and Sokka shoves him forward into the icy cell. 

It’s only a few hours before Zuko’s got the bolts undone. His hands are red and raw from the cold and from unscrewing all the bolts by hand. It feels like it’s been so much longer than it has as exhaustion creeps into Zuko’s bones faster than it does when he tucks his limbs in, curls up, and conserves as much energy as he can when he’s been in the cooler before. His breath of fire helps with the cold, but fire needs fuel and while it keeps him warm, it tires him out too. Despite the cold and fatigue, excitement buzzes under Zuko’s skin at the prospect of getting out of this place soon.

All that’s left is to wait until Sokka can let him out without attracting suspicion. 

***

Sokka waits until Zuko is the only prisoner still in the coolers. From what he’s heard and seen on his first day, Zuko isn’t usually let out of the coolers until he’s unconscious from the cold and they really can’t afford to draw attention right now. Once the hall is empty, he opens the door to the cooler.

“I can take you back to your cell if you’ve learned your lesson,” he says with a joking smile. He knows Zuko’s had it bad here, but he can’t deny that it was almost fun playing prison guard earlier. It reminds him a little of the rough and competitive dynamic he had with Suki when they had first met. Everything had been a show of strength, and while they would never actually hurt each other, the roughhousing and sparring had always been a part of their relationship. 

Sokka is not prepared for the glint in Zuko’s eyes as he breathes out a small burst of flame with a chuckle, “I have.” He reveals the pile of bolts and knuts gathered in his tunic, “Completely.” 

Sokka’s frozen in place for a moment. Sure he’d been ready to joke around with the prison guard thing, but he hadn’t expected Zuko to go with it, hadn’t expected him to respond _like that._ He can tell himself that the feeling in his stomach at Zuko’s response was just surprise at the fire, but he knows it wasn’t. And he’s very uncomfortably aware of exactly what it was. _Attraction._

The awkwardness dissipates win a flash of panic as the voices of two guards come from right around the corner. Zuko grabs Sokka’s arm and yanks him into the cooler alongside him. _Tui and La it’s so fucking cold._

“Yeah, new arrivals coming in at dawn”

“Anybody interesting?”

“Nah, just the usual. Some robbers, a couple traitors, some war prisoners. Though, I did hear there might be a pirate!”

“No kidding!”

Their voices drift further away and Sokka and Zuko exchange looks of shock and worry. 

“War prisoners. It could be your father.” Zuko breaks the silence with a whisper and Sokka realizes just how close he is. The cooler might be big enough for all three of them when placed on its side to use as a boat, but standing up as it is, it’s narrow and he and Zuko are only inches apart. 

Sokka doesn’t know what to do. They won’t be able to hide the fact that the cooler’s been unbolted. It’s inconspicuous enough from the outside, but the next time a guard throws a prisoner in here, they’ll notice right away. If they stay, this escape plan is a bust and Sokka’s not sure if there is another way out of here. 

“Well, what should we do? Are we going ahead with the plan or are we waiting another night?” Zuko asks, still in a whisper. 

“I don't know! Is it right for me to risk Suki's freedom, all of our freedom on the slim chance that my dad is gonna show up?”

“It's your call, Sokka.”

Sokka is surprised at Zuko’s willingness to stay another night more than anything. This guy just keeps surprising him. He’s logical and reasonable and helpful and Sokka is seeing him in a new light with every interaction between them. The new light is a very flattering one. In more ways than one. Sokka is once again very aware of the lack of space between them and yanks the cooler door open forcefully. 

“I already got the message to Suki to meet us and this plan is a bust if we don’t use it tonight. I don’t think we have a choice.” 

Zuko looks unsure but doesn’t argue with him. He steps out of the cooler alongside Sokka and they make their way back to Zuko’s cell to wait until it’s late enough to carry out the plan.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sokka comparing his interactions with Zuko to his interactions with Suki? It's more likely than you think. We're finally getting to some shippy stuff!


	7. My Dad Does Not Have a Nose Ring!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I cannot tell yall how happy I am that my kitchen sink is fixed- have a chapter in celebration 😂

Suki is waiting outside the prison near the water for Sokka and Zuko. They’re meant to detach the cooler and meet her here. She’d had to get herself out, but Sokka left her a key to her cell and the rest relied primarily on stealth, something she’s trained for years in the art of. She sees two figures lower a heavy weight to the ground just outside the prison doors and emerges from the shadows silently to throw her own shoulder against the weight of the cooler, bracing it as they descend towards the water. It takes only a moment after the cooler is positioned at the edge of the shore for her to clue into the doubt and hesitation of both Sokka and Zuko. 

“What’s wrong?”

Sokka just shakes his head, continues preparing the makeshift boat, but to Suki’s surprise, Zuko sighs when Sokka says nothing and then begins to explain, “we overheard some guards talking. There’s new prisoners coming in at dawn, war prisoners among them. Sokka’s dad could be on his way here now.”

“If I had just cut my losses at the invasion, maybe we wouldn't be in this mess. Maybe sometimes it's just better to call it quits before you fail.” Sokka responds harshly, busying himself with retrieving a small pack from under an inconspicuous stone and tossing it into the cooler. 

Zuko lays a hesitant hand on Sokka’s shoulder and Suki’s starting to see a surprising pattern with the gentleness between the two of them. Sokka had justified his decision to bring Zuko along because he was essential to this plan working, but Suki’s wondering if that was just a convenient excuse. She trusts Sokka’s judgment though and if he’s willing to trust Zuko, that’s good enough for Suki to give him the benefit of the doubt. 

“No, it's not. Look Sokka, you're going to fail a lot before things work out.”

Sokka deflates. The stony expression washes away, replaced by uncertainty and worry and Suki raises an eyebrow, is that supposed to help?

“Even though you'll probably fail over and over and over again ...You have to try every time. You can't quit because you're afraid you _might_ fail.”

Sokka looks at him, confusion is evident on his face.

“Why would you want us to stay?” he says to Zuko. 

“You're the one who said you wanted to redeem yourself. Redeem your honor. Rescuing your dad is your chance.” 

Sokka lets out a chuckle, “yeah I guess if there’s anything you’d be sympathetic to, it’s trying to redeem honor.” and Suki watches as Zuko turns beet red, but cracks a small smile anyway. 

It’s such a strange interaction to watch. She can’t help but think how well the two of them complement each other. They come across as complete opposites individually but put them together and the differences become complementary rather than contradictory. 

Sokka takes a deep breath. 

“You guys go. I’m staying here.”

“I’m not leaving without you” Suki informs him in a voice that leaves no room for debate. 

“I’m staying too.” 

_What?_

Suki looks at Zuko, confusion giving way rapidly to suspicion. Maybe he’s a better actor than she thought. The guy’s been going through hell here, there’s no way he’s giving up his out just for the sake of helping out Sokka, who was his enemy until very recently. 

She keeps her eyes narrowed at him as they decide to hide the cooler in the limited foliage. It’s not a foolproof plan, but the end cooler isn’t frequently used and they hold onto the shred of hope that it won’t be noticed until they can use it to get out with Sokka’s father. 

Between their discussions and hiding the cooler satisfactorily, the sky is lightening by the time they’re ready to return. As they turn to head back, Suki grabs Zuko by the shoulder in a strong grip and searches his eyes for a hint of whatever deception she’s worried about. She finds nothing but innocent surprise in them, however. She narrows her eyes and holds him there a moment longer. The guy seems half-decent, but volunteering to stay behind to help rescue his old enemy’s father from prison is beyond the half measure of confidence she was willing to grant to him. She lets her stare linger until she’s convinced the intimidation is working then she leans in, braces her arm against his throat with a slow, almost casual movement, and pushes him back against the outer wall of the prison. He lets her, but his throat bobs against her arm. She waits another three seconds letting the tension build before she breaks the silence. 

“Don’t you dare fuck this up, Zuko.” 

Recognition and understanding lights in his eyes and even though her arm still forces his chin too high, he nods once as best as he can. 

“I won’t.” It’s certain, concise, without hesitation. That’s the Zuko she knows. She may not trust him fully, but she trusts this. She moves her arm from his neck and holds it out for him to clasp. It’s a common enough gesture between warriors, one of respect and trust, and more importantly, it’s a serious symbol of agreement, a promise not to be taken lightly. When he grasps her arm near the elbow, lets her do the same to his arm, his eyes serious and unwavering on hers the entire time, she trusts that. 

***

Zuko clasps Suki’s arm and sees some of her unease fall away. He may have been the enemy, but he won’t take a gesture like this lightly. She must believe so as well. They follow after Sokka to find him frozen halfway to the entrance. He’s staring at the sky and when Zuko follows his gaze he finds that the slowly lightening sky is broken by the moving gondola. The new prisoners are here. They edge around a corner to where they can see the landing site and watch as the gondola doors open and prisoners file off one at a time. The first several are clearly not Sokka’s father, but when a man appearing to be water tribe steps off Zuko looks anxiously to Sokka.

“Is that him?”

“My dad doesn’t have a nose ring!” Sokka says and something clicks into place in Zuko’s mind. _Oh this is not the time for a crush, Zuko! And certainly not with someone who feels that way about ‘people with nose rings’._ Zuko blinks, shakes his head to push realizations out of his mind. They’ve got more important things to focus on than the idea that Zuko’s newest crush _who definitely doesn’t like him back_ is clearly disgusted at the implications of a nose ring. He sets the matter aside for the moment with a determined focus. 

Sokka’s father does not appear as more prisoners exit the gondola and when the last prisoner steps off, Sokka’s face falls. 

“That’s it? That can’t be it.” 

And then, because Agni or Tui and La or whoever Suki prays to and swears by must be listening, that’s not it. 

“Hey you, get off the gondola!” 

Sokka’s reaction is let out in a rush of breath “Dad…”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay- I have literally had this misunderstanding where Zuko overthinks nose rings being gay culture and therefore thinks Sokka is homophobic because of his reaction to the idea that his dad might have one planned out since the beginning 😂 Also! We finally get an actual interaction between Suki and Zuko! This is my first time writing from Suki's perspective, so hopefully, I got her character/voice alright. As always, let me know what you thought, I love hearing from you guys!:D


	8. And Here We Go Again

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! I was planning on getting this chapter out yesterday, but have been feeling very sick:( One of the kids at the elementary school I work at bit me and I'm pretty sure this is from them *sigh* But hey! At least it's not covid symptoms lol. Anyways, here's chapter 8. I'm going to try to crank out the rest of chapter 9 tonight as well, but we'll see. Anyways, enjoy!

“The way I see it, the new plan… is the old plan,” Sokka says, a wide grin splitting his face as they prepare to separate. “We just have to wait until nightfall. Suki, you keep the key and meet us at the same place as last night, I’ll get my dad and Zuko out and we’ll use the cooler to leave tonight.” He nods at Suki and Zuko, and they return to the prison while Sokka hurries up to the landing site where the prisoners are lined up, trying to hide his grin. 

The smile dissipates from his face as he watches his dad get singled out by the warden. 

“Look me in the eye when I'm talking to you.” 

“No.” His father replies, eyes firmly fixed on the ground. 

This is only the second time Sokka has seen the warden up close, and just like the last time, with Zuko forced to his feet in the cooler, Sokka wants to intervene but forces himself to stay still.

“Oh? You'd rather look at my shoes?” The warden questions, and even before he lifts his foot, braces it against the chain of Hakoda’s cuffs, and uses it to slam Hakoda to his knees, Sokka knows what’s going to happen. He grimaces. “Then take a look!”

“I know exactly who you are, Hakoda of the Water Tribe. So strong-willed. But don't worry, we'll get rid of that in time. Now, look me in the eye!”

Hakoda levels a hateful glare at the man, apparently satisfying the warden.

“See, isn't that better? You will all do as I say or pay the price. You will all-”

His father, however, isn’t one to give up easily, and when the warden moves to walk away, he uses the position to trip the warden and send him sprawling. Sokka stifles a laugh. The warden demands the prisoners be gotten out of his sight and after the ensuing chaos of getting the new prisoners to their cells settles, Sokka slips away to talk to his father. 

*** 

Zuko spends the morning in his cell attempting to rest and regain strength and energy that’s been drained by the cooler yesterday and being up all night. Sokka’s indirect rejection this morning stings and Zuko finds his thoughts wandering to him as he gives up on sleep and settles for lying down wide awake. He hadn’t even realized that he was crushing on the Water Tribe boy until the sting of rejection hit him. _Cause, of course, nothing goes right in his life._

Zuko knows he’s being sulky, but he doesn’t have anything better to do right now than think and his mind keeps wandering back to the stupid crush no matter what he tries to think about. He takes to pacing his cell when he can’t stand lying still anymore and he sullenly kicks at the wall. With the new arrivals taking up the attention of the guards, Zuko’s morning of sulking passes uninterrupted and unusually calm. 

The afternoon does not follow the same trend. 

Two guards unlock Zuko’s cell and Zuko barely gets the first word of a question out before they grab his arms, gripping them behind his back, and manhandle him out of the cell. 

“Hey! Where are you taking me?” Zuko shouts as he’s marched down the hall, the strong grips of the guards making his wrists ache. The guards don’t answer, just keep a steady pace and bring Zuko to a room away from the cellblocks where another guard opens the door to allow the two escorting Zuko to drag him inside and force him into a wooden chair in the center of the room that is fitted with restraints. 

_They know._

Ice floods Zuko’s veins, he feels the blood drain from his face as the warden enters the room. 

***

“So where's Bato? Where's everyone else from the invasion?” Sokka asks once he and his father are settled on the floor of Hakoda’s cell. 

“The others are being held at a prison near the Fire Nation palace. They singled me out as their leader and sent me here. But before I left, I met some young women who said they knew you. The ... Oshinama Fighters?” 

“You mean the Kyoshi Warriors?”

“That's right.”

“Their leader Suki is here and she's gonna escape with us.”

“Good. We'll need all the help we can get.”

Sokka takes a deep breath- now is as good a time as any to broach the subject of Zuko to his father. It’s strange, all this time he’s been wishing his father was here to help him know what to do, but now that he is here he’s worried his dad won’t agree with Sokka’s decision to bring Zuko with them. 

“So, you know Prince Zuko?”

“The son of the Fire Lord? I don't know him, but I know of him.”

“Well, he's here too.”

Hakoda’s arms cross over his chest and Sokka can see the angry line between his eyebrows appear. “Sounds like a major problem.”

“Actually, he's on our side now.”

Sokka says it with as much certainty as he can muster, but his dad still raises a lone suspicious eyebrow. 

“How do you know we can trust him?”

“He’s here as a prisoner, dad. He confronted the Firelord on the day of the invasion and told him he was going to join us and teach Aang firebending. And he’s…” Sokka bites his lip, not sure how to phrase it, “I trust him.” he finally decides on. 

Hakoda sighs. “Son, I trust your judgment. We should still be careful of him though.”

Sokka nods, he’s just glad his dad isn’t completely against it. 

“So, do you have a plan?”

Sokka nods proudly, “yeah, we detached one of the coolers that they use to contain firebenders yesterday, it’s hidden near the shore. Tonight we’ll use it as a boat. The insulation will keep it afloat and the current will take us straight across the lake.”

Hakoda smiles and thumps Sokka on the back, “nice work, son.”

***

The warden enters the small room and Zuko freezes. It’s not the first time he’s been confronted individually by the warden. He’s somewhat of a favorite here. Because of course with his luck he wasn’t just locked up in any top security prison with a warden that only hated him for being a traitor to his country, of course, he had to be locked in one with a warden who also hated him for being his niece’s ex. And right now, his face is as angry as Zuko’s ever seen it. 

“Did you know, Zuko” the warden says with an eerie calm, “that we got new prisoners this morning? They were brought here by Inspector Rin who decided to do a check of this prison while here.” 

Zuko gulps. Here it is.

“We found something very interesting in the bushes near the shore of our little island.”

He pauses, leveling a significant look at Zuko, and Zuko knows he can’t lie for shit. He knows his panic is written on his face no matter how much he tries to keep it blank. If the warden wasn’t sure that he was involved before, he definitely is now. 

“We found a cooler. Completely detached, ready to sail away on.” 

One of the guards who had brought Zuko here steps back into the room, whispers something to the warden, and then shows him a handful of bolts. The bolts Zuko had painstakingly removed from the inside of the cooler. The bolts that had been hidden under the corner of his mat. The warden looks to Zuko and smirks at the look on Zuko’s face. 

The warden takes a step toward him, and Zuko shrinks back as much as he can with his wrists and ankles bound to the chair. The warden grabs his face and bends down to look Zuko straight in the eyes. “No one has ever, ever escaped from here. I'd sooner jump in the Boiling Lake myself than let that record fall. Don't forget it.”

He snags one of the chair legs with a kick and the chair, Zuko attached, topples sideways. Zuko’s shoulder hits the ground with a crack and Zuko yelps as he feels it shift out of place. 

“Teach him a lesson,” the warden says to the two guards who accompanied him into the room, “And when you’re done, stick him in the cooler. With his hands chained this time.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And there we go! I'm still trying to stick to the structure of the episode even though leaving Chit Sang's character out obviously changes things somewhat. So far I'm happy with how it's working out, however. Also, just to clarify, Azula, Mai, and Ty Lee are not here. While it is not explicitly stated in the actual episode, I assume they came because the warden had informed Ozai about Zuko showing up there, which in this AU is already known/wouldn't be a thing. Also, in the actual episode, the warden says that Chit Sang isn't smart enough to come up with this on his own which is why he ends up having to rat out a guard. However, Zuko is pretty resourceful and as I've already stated, this isn't his first escape attempt. Since he's always worked alone in the past, the warden isn't questioning that he had help this time. 
> 
> As always, thank you for reading, leave a comment if you want, I try to respond to them:)


	9. Where Things Do Not Go To Plan. At All.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have a shift in all of like 20 minutes so I'm really just throwing this chapter up and heading out the door- Enjoy!!

The guards don’t bother to right the chair when the warden leaves, they just leave him on the ground and begin to teach him the lesson with kicks rather than punches. Zuko tries to curl inward to protect himself from the boots, but the restraints keep him from being able to do much and his shoulder turns agonizing every time he tries to curl forward. 

An especially hard kick to his middle sends the chair scraping backward and Zuko cries out as his shoulder jolts with the motion. One of the guards must realize the source of Zuko’s pain and finally bends down to haul the chair upright by an iron grip on his shoulder. Zuko chokes on a yell. The guard laughs. 

“How pathetic. And to think you used to be a prince.”

Zuko glares at him. He knows his good eye is brimming with tears from the pain, but he still scowls as best he can. 

And the guard slaps him. Open palm right across Zuko’s face. 

Zuko sits there for a moment, just shocked. Because being slapped isn’t like being hurt all the other ways he’s being hurt. It’s strangely personal and it’s _undignified._ It’s too close and intimate. Like it’s being thrown in his face that he’s not defending himself. And of course, he can’t. His arms and legs encased in metal restraints that won’t allow him an inch of movement, but the feeling doesn’t change. It’s like he’s at that Agni Kai all over again and the fight drains out of him. He can’t fight back against this. He could never fight back against his father and he can’t fight back now. 

Somewhere in the back of his mind, Zuko remembers an Earth Kingdom knife with an inscription, a letter from his uncle, urging him to do differently, but he can’t. His brain is too hazy from the pain to focus on the idea or gather any sort of strength to carry it out. The guards resume their onslaught of punches and kicks and Zuko just lets them. Cause what else can he do?

***

Sokka is feeling great about things. His dad is here, they have an escape plan, he is decidedly ignoring his feelings for Zuko, and they’re getting out tonight. He gets a bowl of some sort of soup from the lounge and heads to Zuko’s cell. He’s seen the portions the guy has been getting and figures that since he wasn’t there to bring him breakfast, Zuko probably hasn’t gotten a real meal today. 

The cell is empty. 

Sokka sets down the bowl of soup and asks the guard posted in the hall before he can even consider if it will sound suspicious or not. The guard just chuckles, however. 

“What, you hoping to take out some frustration?” he laughs, “the warden’s talking with him. Something about an escape attempt with a cooler? He just will not give up.” 

Sokka’s chest tightens as he forces some sort of reply out before turning and quickly retreating back towards the warden’s office. He hears Zuko cry out from behind a closed door before he makes it there. Sokka freezes, looks frantically at the closed door, and then wrenches the door open. One way or another he’s getting Zuko out of there. 

The sight that greets him is not a pleasant one. Zuko’s head hangs over his rapidly rising and falling chest. Sokka can see blood dripping from his nose and there’s a dark bruise forming on his right cheek. His wrists are raw where he’s clearly been struggling against the metal restraints that hold him to the chair. His shoulder sits at an angle that’s too sharp to be natural and Sokka is sure that the loose tunic and pants are hiding a number of other injuries. 

Sokka gapes for a moment. Forgetting he’s supposed to be a prison guard until one of the two figures in the room speaks, “the warden send you?”

Sokka has no idea what that means in this context, but he nods numbly hoping it’s the right answer, and the guard sighs in response and pulls a pair of cuffs from his belt. He removes Zuko’s hands from the restraints on the chair one at a time and cuffs them in front of him. When they uncuff his legs and haul Zuko to his feet, he rises unsteadily. He doesn’t raise his head but keeps his eyes on the floor and allows the guards to drag him forward by the chain of the cuffs. 

Sokka doesn’t intervene. Can’t. But he trails after them as they guide Zuko, stumbling, to a cooler where they attach the cuffs on his wrist to a ring set in the floor. 

“Warden said to leave him there ‘til sundown. You keeping watch? He can’t be left alone here after the stunt he pulled last time.” 

Sokka nods again, not trusting his voice to not betray him. 

The two guards leave and Sokka curses the other guards stationed in this hall. He wants to pull Zuko out of there right now. He wants to make this all better, but all he can do at the moment is peek through the tiny slit of a window to see him curled against the icy floor, his breath forming tiny puffs in the frigid air, the cold creating glistening white patterns against the metal on his wrists. All the while trying to keep his face clear of emotion. 

It takes only a few minutes before Zuko gives up on stemming the flow of blood from his nose and instead allows it to trail in a small river over his cheek and drip into a miserable puddle on the floor. A few minutes later Sokka realizes the glistening tear tracks running alongside the blood over Zuko’s cheeks. He’s trying not to be too obvious about checking on Zuko through the window, but he’s worried about the guy. He’s injured badly. He already spent too long in the cooler yesterday to unbolt it and didn’t get any sleep last night, or Sokka doubts, breakfast this morning. And on top of it all, the guy is crying. 

Sokka knows he has to get the message to Suki and his dad that their plan is ruined, but leaving Zuko, even just for a few minutes, is way more difficult than it should be. He finally informs another guard in the hall that he’s going on a break for a few minutes, gets a noncommittal nod, and hurries off. 

Suki accepts the news with a sharp nod. They knew this was a possibility even if they hadn’t really accounted for it. She asks about Zuko and the helpless guilty look Sokka gives her is enough to convey that it’s not good. 

There’s a guard in the hall of his dad’s cell that keeps Sokka from talking to his father, but he can talk to him later. Suki was the one he needed to tell now since the plan has her making her own way out while Hakoda and Zuko would both wait for Sokka to get them. 

Sokka goes back to the cooler and waits desperately for sundown. 

***

Zuko stares at the floor of the cooler and watches with a detached interest as the cuffs on his wrists gather frost. He hurts everywhere. And the persistent cold of the cooler bites into every bruise and cut he’s sustained. More than anything though, he’s tired of this. They call him a traitor, but Zuko is loyal to his people. That’s the whole Agni cursed problem here. He got burned and banished for standing up for his people, for refusing to fight their leader. He knows they don’t see it the same way, but he’s not trying to defeat the Fire Nation; he’s trying to save it. 

They don’t get it. They don’t care. And he knows it’s in part the persistent propaganda twisting his people against him, but it stings. It reminds Zuko of the Earth Kingdom family who helped him when he and his uncle parted ways. Who cared for him and trusted him. Who then found out who he was and feared and hated him. 

Is it ever going to be enough? Zuko is willing to die for his people. He has been for years. But he’d really rather live for them. If he weren’t so numb, he might chuckle at the fact that the way things are going it will probably be those same people who end up killing him. 

***

The second the sun begins to dip behind distant mountains, Sokka yanks open the door to the cooler and drops to his knees to unlock Zuko’s cuffs. Zuko had lost consciousness about an hour ago and Sokka is worried. He scoops Zuko into his arms, trying his best to avoid jostling his injuries. Sokka hasn’t checked, but he’s willing to bet that beyond a dislocated shoulder Zuko is likely also sporting a few cracked ribs at the very least. 

He carries Zuko gently to his cell without enlisting the help of anyone else to share the weight. The warden passes him in the hall and Sokka bites back a litany of curses when the guy smirks and tells Sokka don’t let him die, the Firelord is still holding back the okay for that.”

When Sokka finally has them in Zuko’s cell, closing the door behind him, he allows the carefully blank expression he had held under his helmet to fall away. He throws off the helmet, rakes hands through his hair yanking out the tie that holds it in a wolf-tail to allow it to fall around his face. He takes a deep breath to gather his wits. 

_It’s okay, Sokka. You know how to deal with this. You’re from the South Pole. This is nothing new._

He needs to get Zuko’s body heat back up. He moves behind Zuko to lean him back against his own chest before carefully removing Zuko’s tunic. He feels along his torso and sighs in relief that while he thinks two of the ribs are cracked, they’re both still aligned where they should be. Tearing a strip from the bottom of the shabby tunic, he binds the ribs to hold them where they should be. Next, he braces a hand against Zuko’s shoulder and shoves it hard. It pops back into place with a sickening scrape. Zuko’s legs had seemed okay when the guards had brought him to the cooler and Sokka decides anything else can wait until he can take care of the immediate threat that is his far too low body temperature. 

Sokka’s done this before so he tries not to overthink it as he removes his own outer clothing and pulls the firebender against his body wrapping both of them in the much too thin blanket. He presses his torso to the firebender’s back and wraps his arms around him forcing as much skin-to-skin contact as he can and decidedly not thinking about the fact that he is spooning Zuko. He’s just warming him up and that’s it. But while the situation is anything but sexual, Sokka can’t deny that seeing him in such a concerning state has only emphasized how much he cares about the guy.


	10. Two Bros Chillin in a Prison Cell 0 Feet Apart

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to SolarCupid who left the title for this chapter in the comments on my last chapter 😂
> 
> It was originally going to be "And they were partners in crime" but I liked this one better lol. 
> 
> Anyway, this chapter is so much hurt/comfort get ready for that.

Zuko floats somewhere in between being asleep and awake. He’s conscious in the sense that he’s aware of his surroundings, but apparently still tired enough that he doesn’t question them. His body feels heavy and sore, but he’s cocooned in warmth and softness and somewhere in his hazy mind, he knows that things will become so much less comfortable if he wakes up any more. So, indulging himself in a way he rarely does, he snuggles his face into the heavy warmth pressed against his chest and allows himself to drift between sleep and hazy wakefulness. 

It could be minutes or hours later, Zuko has no idea, when the warmth he’s curled against moves and whispers “I’ll be back soon” and then wriggles out of Zuko’s arms and stands. Zuko is almost contented to allow that to be it. The warm comfort will be back soon. No need to get up or move or reply, he can just wait here. But the situation is just a little too unfamiliar for Zuko’s sluggish mind to completely brush off. He turns as the figure steps out of the room. No. Cell. It’s a prison cell. _Because he’s in prison_ an entirely too satisfied voice in his mind reminds him. 

And then he remembers. And he was so terribly right. Waking up was a mistake. He’s in prison and he’s working with Sokka and Suki to get out of here and Sokka’s father is here. Which Zuko knows is supposed to be a good thing, but Zuko is suddenly nauseous at the thought of that. And their escape plan was discovered and the guards put him in that terrible chair where all he could do was yank his arms and legs against hard steel and rough wood while they taunted and beat him and then they put him in the cooler with his hands chained to the floor and no wonder he feels like shit. 

He doesn’t remember being brought back to his cell, which isn’t surprising given how he was hardly clinging to consciousness when they had put him in the cooler. He doesn’t remember, but Sokka must have brought him back here. It’s now that Zuko realizes that he’s shirtless. His ribs are wrapped, but his tunic hadn’t been replaced after Sokka wrapped them. He’s been cuddling with Sokka shirtless all night. That’s an equally pleasant and uncomfortable thought that Zuko really doesn’t have time for right now. The thought doesn’t care that Zuko doesn’t have the time, and stubbornly stays in his mind and warms his cheeks. 

He forces himself to his feet and groans at the pain that the movement causes. He has to know what’s going on, has to follow Sokka. So he braces himself against the wall and begins moving after the shadowy figure of his… friend? Accomplice? Zuko settles on partner in crime. It sounds cooler now that he’s accepted that he is very much a criminal. 

He moves as silently as he can after Sokka and presses an ear against the door of the cell that Sokka disappears inside. It’s not Suki’s, so Zuko can only assume it’s his father’s. He’s extra glad he followed now. He won’t be much protection in his current state, but he’ll do what he can for Sokka if he needs to. 

***

“Are we ready to go, son?” Hakoda asks as soon as his son enters the cell, but his son shakes his head with a sigh.

“Actually dad, we can’t escape tonight. The guards found the cooler we hid. We need to find another way out of here.”

Hakoda stills, suspicion clouding his mind. “Son, I know you said we could trust the prince but are you certain he didn’t tell them where to find it? It might be better if we didn’t bring him in on our next plan. And if it was him, we’ll need to get out of here soon.”

Sokka is silent for a moment and then Zuko hears “Fine.” and he shoves away from the door.

_What? Sokka had to know he didn’t betray them! Sokka had seen what they did to him when they found out about this plan… Sokka had brought him out of the cooler and helped warm him up and… and snuck out to make plans with his dad to leave Zuko behind._

Zuko stumbles back to his cell. Luckily it’s only one hall away or he’s not sure he could make it. It feels like giving up, but Zuko doesn’t have anywhere else to go or the strength to make it anywhere further. He’s exhausted and in pain and _hurt._

***

Sokka knows his dad wasn’t there. Didn’t see what Zuko got for being suspected of this escape attempt, but it doesn’t stop the indignation that rises up as his dad suggests that Zuko could have tipped off the guards. 

“Fine.” He says sharply after a moment of gaping. “Fine. We don’t have to bring Zuko in on the next escape plan. Because I don’t know that he’s going to regain consciousness before it happens! You didn’t see dad! You didn’t see… I had to reset his shoulder and wrap his ribs and he’s bruised fucking everywhere and the only reason I didn’t come here to tell you sooner is that I had to warm him up after he spent most of the day in the cooler. Unconscious for most of it. He wasn’t even shivering by the time I pulled him out. He took all the blame for this escape attempt! So yeah- we might not be able to bring him in on the plan for our next one, but we will be bringing him along.”

Hakoda looks a little stunned. Sokka was still young enough when he left that they had never had this kind of argument before. The kind where Sokka is right and Hakoda is wrong and there are actually thought and nuance to the argument. 

“I’m sorry Sokka. I didn’t mean to question your judgment. It sounds like he really is trustworthy.”

“I’m sorry too,” Sokka mumbles, “it makes sense that you’d be cautious of him. You didn’t know and I shouldn’t have gotten so upset.”

Sokka didn’t expect the flare of protective defensiveness that flared up at his father’s caution, but he stands by it. Zuko’s proven himself beyond doubt in Sokka’s books and he knows he’s going to have to defend his decision to the others when he comes back with not only his father and Suki, but also the firebender who’s been their enemy since the day they got Aang out of that iceberg. So yeah, he’s going to be a little defensive. 

“I should probably get back to him. I’ll see what I can come up with for getting out of here.” he trades tired smiles with his dad, gives him a hug, and then slips back out of the hall. 

***

Zuko is sitting up when Sokka comes back into the cell. He should be lying down but leaning back puts enough strain on his incredibly painful ribs that he hasn’t made it that far yet. And honestly, he wasn’t expecting Sokka to come back. Which is why Sokka walks into the cell to find him curled into his knees, with frustrated tears staining his cheeks. 

He tries to glare at Sokka, but he’s pretty sure the betrayal and hurt are too obvious on his face for it to really be much of a glare. 

“Have a nice talk with your dad?” Zuko asks miserably and Sokka looks startled. 

“Oh. I didn’t think you were awake.”

“I followed you.”

“Oh.” Sokka’s cheeks turn pink. “I guess you heard that then.”

“I heard enough.”

Zuko sits there in miserable silence. Sokka looks hesitant and confused. 

“I didn’t tell them about the escape. They thought I was escaping alone. That’s why they…” Zuko gestures to his own body. “Didn’t think you were stupid enough that I had to spell it out for you.” 

There’s no real bite behind his words. He’s too exhausted and hurt for anger right now. 

Sokka furrows his brows at Zuko. 

“How much exactly did you hear?”

“I heard your dad say you should leave me behind and then I heard you say ‘fine.’”

“So… you really missed the whole part where I was whisper yelling at my dad that the only reason we could possibly leave you out of the next escape attempt was because I wasn’t sure if you were going to regain consciousness for it and if that was the case we’d be bringing you with us even as dead weight? Cause uh… that’s kinda how the rest of that went…” 

Sokka looks unsure, but Zuko’s stopped crying at least, blinking in confusion instead.

“You… you said all that to your dad?”

Sokka looks in way better condition than Zuko would have expected from an outburst like that against his dad, but Zuko wants to believe him so badly. He’s a little horrified that Sokka spoke up for him like that against his father though. 

“Are you… you know… Okay?” Zuko asks trying to be as discrete as he can. 

Now it’s Sokka’s turn to look confused.

“Uh… yeah? Are you?”

And Zuko has no reply to that. Emotions of hurt and betrayal are quickly turning into a confusing mix of relief and horror and on top of it all, his brain is still feeling sluggish and tired from the previous day, so when Sokka hesitantly sinks down beside him on the mat and offers to help him lay down, Zuko slumps against him. 

***

They’re laying on the mat again, wrapped in Zuko’s thin blanket, but it is distinctly different than last time now that Zuko is conscious. Sokka’s scared to move as if he doesn’t want to remind the firebender of his presence, but after a while, the awkwardness seems to fade although neither of them are asleep. Sokka finally decides to break the silence.

“My dad agrees that you’ve proven you can be trusted and that you’re coming with us. He was just being cautious.” Sokka whispers and Zuko turns his face up to look at him. He still looks vaguely confused but replies with a hesitant ‘okay.’

It’s several minutes of silence later that Zuko breaks the silence again, “so your dad… he just listened to you arguing with him and… ended up agreeing with you?”

“Well… yeah. That’s pretty much what happened.” Sokka says into Zuko’s hair. He’s not sure what Zuko is asking really and wonders if he was too quick to decide that the guy didn’t have a concussion.

“Oh. Okay.”

Another minute of silence.

“He didn’t… hurt you or anything?”

_Oh. That’s what he’s asking. Oh._

“No, Zuko. My dad would never hurt me. And he won’t hurt you either.”

Another silence. 

“My dad would.”

Zuko jerks his head up and Sokka sees that the firebender is as surprised by his words as Sokka is. The surprise settles into resignation after a moment. 

“My dad did.” He continues quietly. “It wasn’t the general.”

Sokka’s mind takes a minute to realize what Zuko’s talking about. He doesn’t figure it out until Zuko grabs his hand in a soft grip and drags it to his face over his left eye. Sokka makes the connection and inhales in a horrified gasp. 

Sokka’s not sure what has prompted the sudden display of vulnerability from Zuko. He’s curled into Sokka’s chest, soft and warm and gentle, baring parts of his history to Sokka that only days ago had seemed impossibly out of reach, with a soft grip on Sokka’s hand letting it rest with his fingertips brushing just under his burned eye. Sokka doesn’t speak for fear of breaking the fragile intimacy between them. 

Zuko closes his eyes and begins speaking in a wavering voice.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aaaahhhhh, so that chapter happened! Let me know what you're thinking:D


	11. The Truth Comes Out

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The last chapter got a lot of responses, so you guys get two chapters in one night lol. 
> 
> Warnings for detailed reference to child abuse- nothing much more than what we know from canon, but definitely more detailed depiction, just be careful y'all.

Zuko’s not sure why he’s telling Sokka this. All he knows is that he feels so safe with the other boy’s arms around him that it feels like he can. Normally reminiscing on the day sends Zuko into a spiral of memories that flood his mind until he can’t breathe, but here, with his head tucked against Sokka’s chest, he knows he won’t lose himself to the memories. There’s no way he could forget where he is right now. And although he feels fragile and a little close to breaking, Zuko is somehow okay with it. 

“The plan I spoke out against… that general wanted to use a division of new recruits as bait to distract an Earth Kingdom battalion so that a more experienced division could come in from behind and attack… the 41st division was young and inexperienced and they were going to be slaughtered. I spoke against it. I wasn’t supposed to even be in the war meeting and my uncle made me promise not to speak before he let me in, but I couldn’t just stay silent… they were my people.”

Zuko looks at Sokka, determination written across his face, and Sokka suspects that he wore the same stubbornly righteous expression that day in the war chamber. He tries to imagine the boy’s face as it must have been then. Younger, smoother, unscarred, without the same hardness in his eyes. Sokka squeezes his arms around the firebender, encouraging him to snuggle closer. He has no idea what to say, so he hopes the physical comfort is enough. He’s starting to understand the weight Zuko has had to live with. The responsibility he feels for his people, his helplessness to protect them from his father. 

“I did the right thing that day,” Zuko whispers and it sounds like he’s reassuring himself. 

“Of course you did,” Sokka says and Zuko swallows thickly. They sit in silence until Sokka is wondering if Zuko will continue at all. When he continues, his voice is rough as if he’s trying to keep the emotion out of it. 

“My father said I had been disrespectful and had to defend my actions in an Agni Kai. I had to accept, refusing wasn’t ever an option, but I was also sure I could beat the general. He was old and I thought I could take him and then I would have proven myself to my father.”

Zuko takes a steadying breath. 

“But it wasn’t the general. The gong sounded and I stood and I turned around and it was my father.” 

And the bottom drops out of Sokka’s world. He can see Zuko’s eyes closed, his lashes sparkling with tears. He hears the helplessness in his voice and Sokka can’t imagine what that must have been like. He knows his relationship is different, but he imagines himself there, realizing he had to fight his father and he wonders if he could even do it. He wonders how Zuko did. 

As if he knows exactly what Sokka is thinking Zuko’s next words are “I couldn’t.” And Sokka really hopes that doesn’t mean what he thinks it did. He tries not to fall apart as he waits for Zuko to explain. 

“I couldn’t fight him. Even if I had wanted to, he was the Firelord. It would have been treasonous to fight him anyway, but he was… I couldn’t fight my dad.” 

Sokka hates the way Zuko’s voice breaks on the last word. Something sharp feels like it’s lodged in his chest and he pulls Zuko in tightly. 

“Oh, Zuko…”

Sokka feels lost. He hugs Zuko to his chest and lets him sob while Sokka tries his best to keep the motion of it from jostling his ribs too much. Sokka bites his lip to keep from crying as well. It’s several minutes before Zuko’s sobs turn into sniffles and he begins speaking again. 

“I know he’s horrible and I’m joining you guys to help take him down, but it’s not… it’s not fair.” 

Sokka couldn’t agree more. 

“He was always horrible, but he also wasn’t? I guess… I know he wanted to kill me when I was born. He said I didn’t have the spark. He thought I wasn’t going to be a bender so he wanted to kill me then. And then… Azula told me he was going to kill me when I was eleven. I think that’s why my mom disappeared.”

Sokka both wants him to continue and also really really doesn’t want him to. He wants to just wrap himself around Zuko and never let anything bad happen to him ever again. Zuko sighs. 

“I couldn’t fight him though. I knelt. And I apologized for speaking out and I begged him for forgiveness and I pledged my loyalty to him and… and he…” 

Zuko’s face shifts. Hardens. His lip still trembles, but his face is determined and hard. He speaks with authority and Sokka realizes he’s quoting his father.

“You will learn respect and suffering will be your teacher.” 

And then he grabs Sokka’s hand, which is resting gently against the back of his neck and he moves it to his jaw, where he holds it, cradling his face for a second, and then up over his eye. He takes his time positioning it carefully and Sokka wonders if the Firelord did too. If he looked down on his son kneeling and considered how exactly to brand him before he did. The way Zuko hasn’t dropped the mask suggests he did. 

“And then he called fire and it hurt so bad.”

Sokka wonders if Zuko knew what his father was going to do before he did it. He doesn’t ask. He thinks he might be sick if Zuko says he did. Because it’s clear that he didn’t struggle. And Sokka doesn’t want to know if Zuko looked at his father ready to mutilate him and accepted it. _Let him._

Sokka tries to pull his hand away, but Zuko holds it in place over his eye for a few more beats as if he’s timing it. Sokka lets out a whimper and Zuko finally drops the mask of his father, lets his face fall back to fear and hurt and sadness. 

“No one’s going to hurt you like that again,” Sokka says fiercely and Zuko seems to melt into the protectiveness. 

“I just wanted him to be my father. I just wanted him to love me and to be proud of me and it was always out of reach.

“I woke up already banished. He sent me off on a ship before I even saw a healer with the message that I could return if I captured the Avatar. Who hadn’t been seen in a century.”

Zuko meets Sokka’s eyes in the dark. He doesn’t look lost anymore, just sad. Like he’s mourning something. Sokka feels it too. 

“That’s how I got my scar.”

Sokka’s usually pretty good at this sort of thing. Reassurances and comfort, but he feels so out of his depth here. His voice is terribly choked when he finds something to say. 

“You deserved better.” And then, because he doesn’t know when to stop, “and you’re going to make an amazing Firelord when we take Ozai down”

And Zuko, who had seemed to gain some control over his emotions is sobbing into Sokka’s chest all over again. _Well fuck that wasn’t the right thing to say._ But then, muffled in Sokka’s shirt comes a shaky “thank you.” So Sokka lets him cry and holds him to keep his ribs from hurting too badly until he exhausts himself and his breathing evens out and his eyes slip closed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let me know what you thought! <3


	12. Escape Plan 2.0

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ahhhh hello, sorry this chapter took significantly longer to get posted than usual, I am in a long-distance relationship and my partner was in town for a few days during which I got out of the habit of writing. Classes have also started for me and while I was skeptical of some of the classes I have this semester over zoom, I have built a blanket fort in my living room, and attending class from there every day is honestly the best thing since sliced bread. Anyway, I hope you all enjoy this chapter!

Zuko finally drifts off to sleep, but Sokka stays awake, his thoughts racing. He’s still struggling to process what Zuko has told him as well as trying to begin working on another escape plan. He’s bothered that he doesn’t know what led to the cooler being found. The guards’ perimeter checks don’t normally include the kind of in-depth search that would have led to their cooler being discovered, and while it could have been nothing more than an especially observant guard, Sokka wonders if there is any other explanation that he’ll need to take into account for their next attempt. Eventually, the urgency of getting them the fuck out of here outweighs his desire to let Zuko sleep, and he gently shakes the firebender awake. 

“Zuko.”

“Hey Zuko, wake up.”

Zuko’s eyes flutter open, still sleepy and confused and Sokka feels as though something has melted into a soft puddle inside him.

“Hmmm?” Zuko whines sleepily.

“Do you know how they ended up finding the cooler? The perimeter check’s I’ve watched haven’t typically been that thorough, they really shouldn’t have found it.”

Zuko’s face is instantly more awake, he sits up halfway, groans at the strain, and resigns himself to allowing Sokka to help him into a sitting position. 

“The new prisoners were brought here with an inspector. After finding the cooler they probably ended up doing a more thorough sweep.” Zuko growls. “Security will be tighter now that they’ve realized how close I got.” 

“Has the inspector left yet?” 

“He’ll be leaving today if he hasn’t” Zuko replies with what looks to be a painful shrug. 

While making it off of this tiny island is the immediate concern, the prison island is in the middle of a volcano also surrounded by ocean. The escape will happen in two phases and if the inspector is still here, it means his getaway ride is too. 

Sokka rubs his chin thoughtfully as if there’s a beard there to stroke. The island is fairly secure. If they escape today before the inspector leaves, then they’ll hopefully be able to take over whatever balloon or boat or whatever had brought him here and use it to get away, but getting from this island to the outer volcano is where there will be the most security. Floating across the lake, in a cooler or otherwise is improbable with the guards having all been informed of how close Zuko got. They’ll be watching for that sort of thing more diligently than usual. 

The only other way to or from the island is the gondola, so that’s what they’ll have to use. Sokka knows however that the controls for the gondola, as well as the transport itself, are well guarded. Some of those guards could be called away if they had a big enough of a distraction, but not all of them. The remaining guards will somehow have to be convinced… 

A hostage? No. No way the warden cares enough about anyone here that he wouldn’t just cut the line anyway… Zuko is once again slumped against Sokka’s shoulder by the time Sokka has thought through this far. Sokka’s privately glad, Zuko being conscious at all is a blessing, but the previous day had taken a serious toll on him, it’s for the best that he get some rest while he can. Sokka decides to talk to his dad. Maybe he’ll have some ideas. 

***

The sun has peaked over the mountainous horizon by the time Sokka enters Suki’s cell with a cautious backward’s glance. 

Suki drops her foot to the floor from a high kick. She’s been up for hours practicing katas to work out the nervous energy that’s plagued her since Sokka told her they had found the cooler. She’s eager to get out of here. Being so cooped up and _alone_ has been hell. Obviously there are worse aspects of prison life than the confinement and loneliness, but they’re the aspects that are constantly gnawing at her. 

“Sokka, what's going on?” He looks as though he’s hardly slept and she can see the worry in his backward glances. 

“I don't have much time. If I'm seen with you the guards might think something's up. Everyone’s on high alert after yesterday.” He peaks through the small window in the door of her cell. “I just talked to my dad.”

He pauses, but Suki doesn’t interrupt. 

“We’re escaping today on the gondola.”

Okay, that’s… improbable. 

“What?”

“My dad and I came up with the plan together. We're gonna commandeer the gondola and we're gonna take a hostage with us so they won't cut the lines.”

Suki shakes her head. She’s not convinced. “We'll never make it onto the gondola. There’s too many guards.”

“Yeah, we’ll need a distraction to get rid of as many as we can. My dad suggested we start a prison riot.”

“Okay, let's say by some miracle this all works and we make it on the gondola. The warden will still just cut the lines, even if we have a captive.”

Sokka loves to walk everyone through his reasoning, but she’s impatient to get out of here and even though the gleam in his eye says that they’ve thought of that, she wishes he would just get to the point. 

“Not if the warden _is_ the captive.”

Okay, that might actually work. She gives him a thoughtful nod. 

“How’s Zuko?” She asks, worry creeping into her voice. 

Sokka’s face falls slightly. “He’s okay… well, he’s not. But he will be.” 

Suki lays a gentle hand on Sokka’s shoulder and when he meets her eyes, she nods once. 

“He will be, Sokka. We’ll make sure of it.”

***

Sokka learns that the inspector is leaving shortly after high noon. He waits until the sun is about halfway to its zenith before deciding to wake Zuko to inform him of the plan. 

The firebender still seems tired and a little unfocused as Sokka explains and Sokka sincerely hopes that it’s just the drowsiness of being just woken up rather than indicative of a head injury. When Sokka finishes explaining, Zuko shakes his head. 

“That won’t work.”

“But if the warden is the hostage–”

“Then they would cut the lines. The warden has already informed me that he would rather jump in the boiling lake than have a single escape from this prison. Not to mention the Firelord would be far more forgiving of the warden’s death than of letting three high profile prisoners and one of the avatar’s closest companions get away. The guards would cut the lines even if the warden was with us. The captain goes down with the ship and all that…” He waves his hand vaguely, then winces at the movement. 

Well shit. If even the warden isn’t important enough to secure their getaway, Sokka’s not sure if they’ll be able to. He briefly wonders if the inspector outranks the warden, but it’s not like any of them outrank the Firelord who would obviously be very upset about their escape. 

Wait a second. The Firelord… _“don’t let him die, the Firelord is still holding back the okay for that”_ The warden’s words come back to Sokka like a smack in the face. 

He grins at Zuko, “they might not hesitate to sacrifice the warden, but I think there’s someone else here that they’d be a bit more hesitant to kill.”

Zuko furrows his single eyebrow. 

“It’s you! The warden told me last night that the Firelord still wants you alive!”

Zuko doesn’t look that excited. “It’s a stay of execution, my father would rather I be dead than free.”

“The guards don’t know that though. Look, from the guards' perspectives, the Firelord isn’t exactly consistent in his opinion of you. The Firelord has told them not to kill you and they’re not going to want to risk his wrath by going directly against that order!”

Zuko looks frustrated. “It’s not going to work! If they see me trying to escape, they will kill me before they let it happen.”

“Maybe,” Sokka shrugs, “but if you’re not trying to escape; if you’re just our innocent hostage…” 

The look of surprise on Zuko’s face is priceless. His eyes wide, mouth slightly open, he blinks several times and then finally lets a small smile creep onto his face. 

“Well, I guess I’d rather be your prisoner than theirs.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And there we go! Sorry that this chapter was not super plot intensive- as you may suspect however, we will get some action in the next one! 
> 
> As always, thank you for reading and if you feel like it, let me know what you thought:)
> 
> Next chapter should be up on Monday.


	13. Things Go Suspiciously Right

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay I know I said Monday and it's technically been Tuesday for like 10 minutes by now, but y'all don't know what time zone I'm in so you can't prove it. Fr though, my homework took a bit longer than expected, so sorry this chapter is a wee bit late.

Zuko does his best to stretch out his sore muscles and joints while Sokka tells his dad and Suki about the updated plan. There’s plenty that could go wrong, but no matter what plan they go with, it’s going to be risky and Zuko has to admit, this is pretty clever. He had told Sokka as much and his face had turned a light pink as he tried to brush it off. Zuko wasn’t having it though. Sokka’s a brilliant strategist and Zuko’s not even telling him that to flirt. _Not that flirting would do any good_ an annoying voice in his mind says and Zuko scowls at it. 

Luckily, he has plenty to distract his mind with. They’re about to bust out of one of the most secure prisons in the Fire Nation and Zuko full of nervous energy made worse by his restricted movement. The plan is fairly simple. Suki, Hakoda, and Sokka will all be out in the yard when they start a riot. From there the three of them will head back in while the riot draws guards away from their posts. They’ll collect Zuko from his cell and make their way to the gondola. Suki and Sokka will be the primary defense as Zuko has to keep up the act of being an unwilling hostage and Hakoda is still injured from the invasion and not, therefore, will play the part of dragging Zuko out rather than participating more in the action. 

They haven’t had time to work out many intricacies, but Zuko is hopefully optimistic about their chances and Sokka is more than confident enough for both of them. It rankles a little that he won’t really be a very active part of the escape, but he understands the necessity of him seeming to be an unwilling participant in this as well as the practicality of avoiding physical confrontation in his current state. He still wishes he could be more useful. 

He reaches out with his inner fire to feel the sun’s path across the sky as he counts down the time until their plan will take action. The sun is about an hour away from its zenith when Zuko hears the alarm bells signifying that the situation in the yard has escalated into a worthy distraction. Zuko forces himself to aching legs and lets his face sink into a familiar scowl. He mentally prepares himself for the show. He’ll have to be convincing and while he can’t lie for shit, acting has always been different than lying. He’s playing a character. The former Prince, Zuko, the captive of the escaping prisoners. 

When Sokka opens the door to his cell, there are no last-minute discussions of plans. No quick reassurances or hesitations. They had agreed earlier that the act would begin as soon as the riot did. They can’t afford a lingering guard to spoil the ruse or call their bluff, so when Sokka opens the door, Zuko scowls at him, but he’s not in any condition to resist effectively when Sokka shoves him against the stone wall to cuff his wrists behind his back. 

Sokka hauls him, just roughly enough to continue the deception, into the hallway by the chains on his wrists and Zuko stumbles after him, but he lets a few tendrils of flame seep through his gritted teeth. It will look angry to anyone seeing it, including Sokka right next to him, but it’s equally a reaction to the pain that laces through his various injuries with the jostling movement. 

Sokka’s eyes widen on the orange flames, flash in sympathy, and then harden as he removes the sash tied around Zuko’s own waist and makes quick work of fashioning it into a gag that bites into the corners of Zuko’s mouth and the bruises on his cheeks from the rough treatment of the guards the day before. Zuko yelps indignantly against the gag, but his hands are bound and besides he’s _letting_ Sokka call the shots. He can struggle enough to make it believable, but not so much that he’ll actually hinder their escape. Zuko’s not sure he couldn’t be much of a hindrance even if he wanted to. 

They make their way to the landing dock for the gondola quickly as the group walks briskly, or in Suki’s case jogs lightly, and in Zuko’s stumbles and trips in an effort to keep up with the tight grips of Hakoda’s hand on his left arm and Sokka’s on his right. Zuko’s having enough trouble keeping his feet under him without putting up any real resistance and by the time they make it to the dock, he’s wheezing past the uncomfortable fabric in his mouth and shaking slightly from the exertion on his still weakened body. 

There are still several guards, but not nearly as many as there would normally be, especially with the momentarily heightened security. Hakoda moves behind Zuko to grip both of his arms as Sokka lets go and draws his sword. Hakoda holds a blade a hairsbreadth from Zuko’s throat to show the guard’s they’re serious and while Suki takes out two guards after pulling the sash of her prison garb taunt between her two fists, and Sokka fends off a few more with his sword, most of the guards don’t approach once Hakoda shouts that they have “the prince”. One of the guards, eyes wide, growls to the others that they can’t kill him. The plan is working. 

It’s a slow and tense walk onto the gondola. Zuko struggles against the pull on his wrists partly on instinct and partly to sell the act. Hakoda sighs and it’s so similar to the way Sokka does it that Zuko doesn’t have to see his face to know the chief has just rolled his eyes. The next thing Zuko knows he’s gasping against the rough linen between his teeth as he’s hefted over the chief’s broad shoulders. They back onto the gondola, Suki scares Zuko half to death as she waits almost too long to break the lever and leap to the gondola, Sokka catches her by the wrist and they share a hug when he hauls her on board. 

Zuko sits a little miserably in the corner of the gondola where Hakoda had set him down. The movement of the escape has left Zuko feeling too winded and achy to bother getting to his feet. So instead, he sits and sulks in the corner of the gondola, still bound and gagged, while the guy he fancies yanks his once-girlfriend into a tight hug. Zuko knows he should be ecstatic to get away from the prison, but he’s tired and sore and struggling to regain control of his breathing between the bunch of cloth restricting his airway and the sharp pain in his ribs on every inhalation and he feels a little too exposed at the moment and Hakoda is standing too close and everything is just a bit much. 

Sokka looks over to him on a particularly rough breath, his eyes filled with concern.

“Are you okay, Zuko?”

Zuko hesitates, but nods. He’s fine. Whatever this panic is it can wait until they make it away from here. Sokka still looks worried and when Hakoda crouches down next to his son and reaches toward Zuko’s face, it’s only belatedly that Zuko realizes he meant to loosen the gag is all. He flinches back violently from Hakoda’s outstretched hand. Hakoda stills and Sokka brushes his father’s hand away from Zuko. 

“Do you want me to loosen the gag Zuko?” he asks calmly and as much as Zuko wants to be rid of it, he doesn’t want anyone’s hands on him just now. Not even Sokka’s. He shakes his head. The cuffs and the gag and the rough prison uniform are all overwhelmingly uncomfortable on his too-hot skin and additional touch sounds difficult to stomach just now. 

Sokka accepts his answer with a nod, but Zuko’s peace doesn’t last long as shouts ring from the landing dock at the prison, and Zuko has to resume his position of hostage/human shield to convince the guards that shooting down the fugitives with bow and arrow is too risky a plan. The grip Sokka maintains on his arms is gentle and his thumbs rub tiny circles against the insides of Zuko’s elbows and it’s not quite as bad as Zuko’s mind had anticipated. 

When they finally make it to the other side of the gondola’s line, they step off one after another until Zuko is pulled gently through the door by Sokka and they make their way, skidding and stumbling as quickly as they can down the slope towards the solitary airship that is their ticket out of here.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The escape! Finally! We're here! The gondola ride is much less eventful without Azula and Ty Lee to spice things up, but hey! More opportunities to fixate on Zuko centric angst this way 😂. Anyway, let me know what you thought:) Next chapter should be up by Thursday at the latest.


	14. Zuko Finally Gets An Uninterrupted Nap

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Slight change to the previous chapter- I went back and watched the episode yet again and realized I refered to their transport off of the volcano as a war balloon when in fact it was a full on airship, so that like one word in the last paragraph has been changed lol.

They reach the airship and gather inside. Sokka and the others prepare the ship for flight in a hurry. The next few minutes are a tense flurry of activity as tethering ropes are untied and cut loose and the fin-like sails adjusted to point them in the right direction as they rise off the ground. Once they make it into the air, as the volcano finally begins to shrink, they all breathe a sigh of relief. 

Sokka yanks off the guard helmet he’s still wearing and lets it fall to the ground as he shoves his hand into his pocket fishing out the ring of keys that holds the key to the restraints that still wrap around Zuko’s wrists. Zuko is breathing heavily, as is Sokka, both of them sweaty and out of breath from the steep run to the balloon, and Zuko seems lost in thought as he looks back over the water towards the prison. He must hear the keys as Sokka retrieves them, however, because he turns to look back at Sokka, as though he had forgotten his company for a moment and then, as a slightly wounded noise slips through the gag, he tugs against the metal cuffs. 

“Here, turn around,” Sokka says and places a guiding hand on Zuko’s shoulder. Zuko complies, but Sokka can see the tension in his shoulders and back as he flips through the keys to find the right one. It takes only a few seconds, but to Zuko, it must feel like longer as he almost immediately starts tugging against the cuffs again. Sokka has to clamp a hand around Zuko’s wrist to stop him moving enough to insert the key. As soon as Zuko is able to wrench his hands apart, before Sokka can even unlock the cuff on his other wrist, he yanks them away, turns around, and wrenches the gag out of his mouth. 

And while Sokka’s hands aren’t shaking or anything, he’s not exactly calm. He’s high on adrenalin and the excitement of escape and Suki and his father have both wandered to some other corner of the large balloon and when Zuko turns to face him, yanks the makeshift gag out of his mouth, grins at him tiredly with that infuriating half-smile that he wears sometimes, Sokka doesn’t bother thinking. He just leans forwards and presses his lips against Zuko’s. Zuko’s lips are chapped and dry and warm and _perfect_ for a few short seconds before Sokka realizes that the firebender is not kissing back. _Oh shit_. 

Sokka pulls back to see a look of pure confusion on Zuko’s face. Did he misread something? Sokka had thought that things were headed in that direction after spending the night in Zuko’s cell and listening to the firebender open up to him and… had he imagined the way Zuko had looked at him and flirted with him? 

“Umm, sorry,” he says, suddenly unable to meet Zuko’s eyes. “I guess I misread some things, I didn’t mean to assume anything.” He fumbles with the keys that are still in his hand. 

“No! That’s… okay?” Zuko seems unsure of what to say. His face is still confused and shocked and he blinks several more times when Sokka manages to look at him. 

Sokka sighs. “No, I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have just kissed you I just thought… I misread things I guess. Obviously you aren’t interested and that’s fine! I just… sorry I kinda jumped you like that.” Sokka is bright red. He may have been flushed from the exertion of running down the side of the volcano before, but now he’s bright red. The way Toph gets when she lays in the sun for endless hours, her porcelain skin turning warm and painful. 

Zuko blinks again, and then _he’s_ flushing. “It’s not that I’m not interested… I just… thought you weren’t?” Everything sounds like a question and Sokka doesn’t know how to answer anything. Sokka’s not exactly subtle most of the time, but he supposes they had other things to focus on… still. 

He lets out a nervous laugh, “what gave you that idea?” and Zuko mumbles something unintelligible. 

“What?”

“YoujustseemedreallyoffendedwhenIaskedifyourdadhadanoseringokay?”

And okay, that time was mostly decipherable, but doesn’t actually make any sense because what on earth about that came across as disinterest?

“Well… he doesn’t have a nose ring. What does that even mean? Why would you think…?” 

***

_Fucking damnit_. Why did he assume that a particular weird cultural phenomenon that exists in the Fire Nation was a universal thing? Of course that’s not a thing in the Southern Water Tribe, why would it be? Sokka looks vaguely concerned for his sanity though, and Zuko supposes he ought to explain. He fiddles with the cuff that’s still locked around his left wrist. 

“Uh… nevermind. It’s nothing.”

Sokka doesn’t look convinced. As Zuko watches though, his face slowly morphs from confusion to surprise and vague amusement. “Hold on,” Sokka says and Zuko can _hear_ the amusement “you didn’t think that I was defensive about my dad having a nose ring because that’s some sort of queer culture in the Fire Nation… did you?”

_Agni kill me now._ Zuko thinks as Sokka starts snorting in laughter. 

“Zuko, that’s not a Water Tribe thing… and my dad’s been in a relationship with a man for like years now, so....”

Zuko opens and closes his mouth too many times, unsure of what to say. He finally settles on “so, you… are interested in me?” Zuko feels nervous and caught off guard and way too bare. 

Sokka’s face softens impossibly more, “yeah, Zuko. I’m really interested.” he moves nearer, and Zuko thinks he might be going to kiss him again, but he just reaches out and gently takes Zuko’s wrist, the one with the cuff still attached, and carefully breaks it open with a turn of the key. Zuko still feels a little overwhelmed by the day. The stress of being bound and gagged and running and Hakoda’s hands a little too near to his face and his still injured body and as much as he is definitely interested too, he’s tired. 

Sokka must see it because he puts an arm carefully around Zuko’s waist and helps him to the ground where Zuko leans into Sokka’s chest. This feels more familiar. The intimacy of it is still new and somewhat uncharted, but curling into Sokka’s chest for warmth and comfort is less so. 

Zuko thinks, vaguely, somewhere in the back of his mind, that it’s going to be enough explaining to do when Sokka comes back to the avatar’s group with him in tow. Being hand-in-hand is only going to be extra complications. But then again, he’s fitted between Sokka’s legs, leaning against his chest and his breathing is finally starting to even out and it’s nice. 

***

Zuko’s eyes begin to slide closed in longer and longer blinks and Sokka holds stilll, keeps his breathing deep and even until the firebender finally drifts to sleep. When his father returns to their corner of the deck, he looks surprised for a minute at their position, but Sokka lifts a finger carefully to his lips signaling for him to be quiet. 

“Do you want a blanket, he should be kept warm if he’s still recovering.” Hakoda whispers and Sokka nods gratefully. His father returns a minute later with a soft quilt and sinks to the floor alongside his son. 

“He’s a really good guy,” Sokka whispers, and his dad nods thoughtfully. 

“I can tell,” he says, but Sokka can tell that there are other things on his mind besides Zuko’s quality of character. “He’s been hurt, hasn’t he?” Hakoda says softly and Sokka remembers Zuko shoving himself away from his father’s hand on the gondola until his back hit the wall. 

“Yeah,” Sokka admits with a sad sigh. “He’s been through a lot. We all have, but…” he trails off. Sokka looks at his dad at last and Hakoda nods in understanding. He pats Sokka on the shoulder. 

“You two make a good team” he finally says and Sokka smiles softly. 

Sometime after his dad has retreated to check their heading, Suki wanders back up and looks between Sokka and Zuko, amusement playing over her features. “So… that’s how it is with you two now?” Sokka answers with a mild glare when Zuko stirs in his sleep at the sound of her voice. Suki chuckles quietly, “Katara’s going to take that well I’m sure.” Sokka grimaces. It’s going to be a weird reunion for sure. _Tui and La he left a note saying he was going fishing. Presumably, they believe it, Sokka privately thinks that they can be quite oblivious at times and since Toph can’t use her freaky lie-detecting earth bending on the letter, they probably accepted it._

_Zuko curls into his chest and Sokka sighs a mixture of apprehension and contentment. He’ll cross that bridge when they get to it._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whoo so close to the end. I'm thinking there will be two chapters after this, so we really are nearing the end! I also recently started a series that is purely theatre nerd Zuko called The Drama of It All. There will of course be some hurt/comfort, whump, angst, whatever cause uh it's Zuko, but less so than this fic lol. But anyway, check it out if you want! Anyway, I hope you guys enjoyed this, let me know what you thought:)


	15. Who's Your Friend, Snoozles?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so, as usual, I have overestimated how much content I can fit in one 1000-1500 word chapter and this work may end up being 17 chapters V(^_^)V hopefully no one is too disappointed lol. 
> 
> Anyway, it's the moment y'all have been waiting for- the reunion. Sorta. Reunion part 1.

While the trip from the Western Air Temple to Boiling Rock had seemed like no time at all, now that Sokka isn’t mildly dreading the destination, the trip back passes agonizingly slow and although it’s felt like an eternity, Sokka still hesitates to wake Zuko. He looks so much more peaceful when he’s asleep, although Sokka supposes that could also be partially due to the fact that the only time he’s seen him in a non-combat situation was while he was locked in prison. Neither of those two contexts really provides for the most peaceful expressions no matter who you are. As they prepare to guide the ship alongside one of the hanging towers of the temple to disembark, Sokka lightly shakes Zuko’s shoulder, the one he hadn’t had to relocate the previous night, and watches the golden eyes blinking blearily as he regains consciousness. 

Zuko looks up at Sokka, his eyes still sleepy and relaxed as he turns his face towards Sokka’s without lifting it from where it rested against Sokka’s stomach. There’s a light smile on the firebender’s lips and Sokka strains his neck to lean down and peck him on the lips. He leans back to find Zuko looking surprised and vaguely pleased. 

“You have a nice nap?” Sokka asks a little teasingly and Zuko hums in agreement. 

“You make a nice pillow.” He mumbles and then seems to realize what he’s just said and flushes dark red. It’s cute, Sokka thinks. 

“We’re at the air temple,” Sokka tells him and Zuko seems instantly more alert. He lifts his head from Sokka’s abdomen for a short second before grunting and falling back. His broken ribs must still be really painful. Sokka carefully scoots himself up the wall letting his own torso provide support for Zuko to sit up. “Katara should be able to heal those soon. She might not be able to fix them entirely, but she’s pretty good,” Sokka tells him with a gentle smile. Zuko looks skeptical, but Sokka doesn’t have time to dwell on it. The airship is almost parallel with the lowest floor of the temple and Sokka carefully helps Zuko to his feet.

***

There’s a gnawing apprehension in Zuko’s stomach as Sokka lowers gangplank across the narrow gap between the airship and the temple, but he ignores it in favor of focusing his strength on walking off of the ship and not having to rely on Sokka carrying him. He’s grateful for the arm Sokka wraps around him, taking some of Zuko’s weight and helping him keep the balance that is frustratingly difficult to maintain. 

They make it to the end of the gangplank, step onto the stone floor of the temple, and then Zuko hears “now!” and several figures burst from behind a wall of the temple. Zuko hardly has time to register it before stone rises around his ankles and throwing him forward onto the ground where he finds himself further pinned down, stone molding to his wrists, his throat as he hears Sokka cry out beside him. He turns his head as far as he can against the rock at his neck to see Sokka similarly pinned with ice rather than stone. 

There’s a beat of silence during which Zuko realizes their attackers are the Avatar and his traveling companions then, the small earthbender girl lets out a startling laugh. 

“Whoops, my bad Snoozles… I couldn’t tell it was you through the wooden plank.”

There’s a gasp from the water bender girl, “Sokka!”

“Who’s your friend?” the earth bender girl asks as the ice liquefies, leaving him drenched on the ground. She raises her hands towards Zuko but before she can dissolve the rock encasing him, the water bender, Katara, Zuko reminds himself, puts a hand on her shoulder to stop her. 

“That’s not a friend,” Katara says sharply, glaring towards Zuko for a second before Sokka interrupts. 

“Aaaactually… he kinda is.”

“What? What do you mean he’s a friend! He’s been trying to capture Aang since the moment he woke up in that iceberg!”

“Ah, so this is the infamous ponytail jerk, huh?” The earth bender girl is ignored in favor of the argument between Sokka and his sister, however. 

“Not anymore. He’s changed and he’s here to help teach Aang fire bending and he’s really on our side, I swear.”

Katara looks unconvinced from what Zuko can see from his awkward position on the ground. 

“We can’t trust him Sokka! How did you even find him anyway, he must have been here tracking us to capture Aang again!”

“I didn’t find him around here! He was in prison!” Sokka shouts and Zuko wants to put a hand on his shoulder, something to calm him down because he’s really not liking that everyone is getting to shouting volumes and he’s especially not liking that the topic of the shouting his him. While he’s pinned to the ground no less. 

“You were in prison?!” Katara shouts before she turns her glare on Zuko, “you put my brother in prison!?”

“Katara, no!” Sokka shouts.

The water bender looks murderous and a small sound of distress escapes Zuko as she takes an angry step toward him. Sokka is closer however and crouches down next to Zuko, a gentle hand resting on his shoulder.

“Toph, let him up,” Sokka says in a commanding voice, and the small earth bender girl shrugs and the stone crumbles into dirt and dust on the temple floor. 

“What are you doing!?” Katara yells, but Sokka doesn’t rise to her volume this time and instead just looks at her, tired and pleading, “I’ll explain everything inside, but first, there’s someone else you might want to see.”

And from the airship, with bundles of supplies they had collected from the underbelly of the ship, Hakoda and Suki begin to descend the gangplank. Zuko can see the moment Katara’s confusion melts into recognition when she catches a glimpse of her father’s face from behind the supplies piled in his arms. He barely makes it off the gangplank before Katara forces him to drop the bundle throwing her arms around him in a hug. Suki smiles at the group to enthusiastic greetings and sets her bundle down much more gently than Hakoda’s had hit the floor. 

Katara, her expression having been angry and confused only a moment ago, is now looking at Sokka with a hint of awe, like he’s the best brother ever and while her eyes still reveal suspicion as they slide over Zuko, it doesn’t seem so harsh now that Zuko is once more leaning against Sokka and no one is yelling. 

“Anyway…” Sokka begins nervously, “I guess I’ve got some explaining to do, let’s head inside?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always, let me know what you thought of this chapter, I love seeing your guys' responses to this fic and I seriously cannot believe how much attention it has gotten, so thank you to all of you for reading so far!


	16. Super Fun Talks Begin

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow I am literally so bad at concise dialogue.

Sokka slips smoothly under Zuko’s arm to help him up help support his weight as the avatar and his companions watch them limp into the temple. Zuko can feel them watching, even the earthbender girl whos eyes are glassy and unfocused is somehow watching he’s sure. The stone floor of the temple is cold beneath Zuko’s bare feet. The thin slippers he had been provided with at Boiling Rock had been shredded by the race down the mountainside and he had left the tattered soles in the balloon. There’s a strange degree of vulnerability that feels emphasized by his bare feet. He doesn’t like turning his back to the so-far hostile group but forces himself to trust Sokka’s certainty that they won’t attack him again. 

They step inside the temple and Zuko feels weakness returning with a violent suddenness as he steps out of the sun. He must lean a little more heavily on Sokka, because the Water Tribe boy makes a noise of concern and when Zuko feels himself slipping as Sokka shifts, he finds his weight swept abruptly off of his feet. Dizziness passes after a short second and he finds himself cradled in Sokka’s arms. He means to make some sort of indignant sound, but it comes out sounding content.

“Are you okay?” Sokka asks, his voice reflecting the concern in his eyes.

“Yeah, the sunlight was just helping more than I thought.” He smiles tightly as the pain that had receded partially from the adrenalin returns. 

Sokka looks at him worriedly then nods towards a firepit a little further inside the temple, “would lighting a fire in here help?” he asks.

Zuko nods hesitantly. He’s not sure the others will be entirely comfortable sitting around a fire with him not yet trusted, but he can’t ignore the weakness and fatigue forever, and a fire sounds too good to pass up. 

Sokka settles them near the fire pit carefully arranging Zuko to lean against his chest. 

“Are your ribs okay? Toph didn’t hurt them too bad did she?” 

Zuko feels like melting a little at the concern in his voice. He shakes his head mutely. His ribs still hurt terribly, but he doesn’t think she did any more damage than what was already done. 

The others have followed them to the firepit and sit carefully on the opposite side as though they’re ready to jump up at any moment. Zuko wishes he had that kind of energy and mobility. Although slumping against Sokka’s chest isn’t the worst he supposes. 

***

Sokka opens his mouth to ask someone to light the fire, but with a single concerned look at the firebender, his dad is already fumbling with spark rocks to do just that. Katara looks ready to intervene, but as their dad repeats Sokka’s question as to the condition of Zuko’s ribs in a low voice filled with fatherly concern, she snaps her mouth shut looking confused. 

As the fire catches Sokka feels some of the tension drain from Zuko’s body. They sit in tense silence for a minute, Sokka’s not sure where to start, Zuko’s clearly not up to doing the explaining, and Katara Aang and Toph seem at a loss as to what to ask. Sokka supposes he should just be grateful Haru, Teo, and The Duke are nowhere to be seen at the moment. 

It’s Toph who finally breaks the silence, “So, you left to go fishing and… what? You got lost?”

The typically blunt and ridiculous nature of the earth bender startles a laugh out of Sokka and he suddenly feels much more at ease. It doesn’t matter that they’re a little suspicious of his new friend and things are a bit tense and he’s got some explaining to do, _these are his friends_. He takes a deep breath. 

“I was never going fishing. I took the war balloon that we brought here and uh, went to rescue dad.” 

Sokka scratches his head self consciously. It sounds pretty rash in retrospect. Katara is looking at him like he’s absolutely insane, Aang looks downright terrified, and Toph… well she’s Toph. She looks like this is the best thing she’s ever heard.

“You… went off on your own to rescue your dad?! Sokka that could have been really dangerous!” Aang exclaims and Sokka can’t help but think of all the times the airbender has insisted on doing things on his own and worried Katara and him half to death. He gives a guilty shrug. 

“The mechanist had mentioned Boiling Rock and we practically flew right over it on our way here. I had to do what I could…

“But when I got there, I didn’t just find dad.”

Katara spares a small smile toward Suki, but Suki herself is looking at Zuko who shifts uncomfortably against Sokka. 

“Basically the first person I ran into there was Zuko.”

Now Katara’s eyes harden once again and Sokka knows she’ll spin her own stories in her mind if he doesn’t get right to the truth.

“One of the guards was making up rules and forcing him into bending just so they could punish him for it. He looked like he hadn’t eaten in days and they had him thrown in a cooler. It felt like back home in winter.”

The silence is heavy now and Sokka lets it be. He hears Zuko swallow and moves his thumb in gentle circles against Zuko’s shoulder in an attempt to be comforting. When the heavy silence has properly communicated the gravity of Zuko’s situation Sokka continues. 

“I had disguised myself as a guard and I knew I needed to talk to him, I needed to know why he was there, and at least make sure he wasn’t going to get me caught. I knew Zuko had recognized me too.”

Zuko looks like he’s going to say something, but Sokka’s pretty sure that hearing this from him is for the best and communicates so with a gentle but firm hand on the firebender’s shoulder. Zuko seems okay with that. He sinks back against Sokka’s chest. Katara’s eyes follow the whole interaction with undisguised suspicion, but she says nothing and Sokka’s glad. 

“Zuko told me that Suki was there as well, but dad wasn’t at this point. We came up with a plan to escape, but we postponed it when we heard that new prisoners would be getting there the next day. Dad ended up being among them, but our original plan was discovered and Zuko got all the blame for it.”

This time Zuko visibly winces.

Aang’s eyes widen, “they hurt you, didn’t they?” 

Zuko doesn’t answer, but the shaky hand he raises to his ribs, the dark bruises visible on his face, everything about his current condition, is answer enough.

Aang’s brow furrows for a moment, “why were you in prison in the first place?”

Sokka’s about to answer, but Aang is looking directly at Zuko and the firebender has started talking before Sokka can.

“I confronted my father on the day of the eclipse. I told him I was leaving to find you and teach you firebending so that you could face him. I didn’t get out fast enough.”

The reactions to that revelation are varied. Katara looks like she’s in shock. She looks from Zuko to Sokka, then to Hakoda and Suki with wide eyes. Toph looks highly impressed, and she’s not one to be impressed easily. Aang however, looks more concerned than anything else.

“But… he’s your dad, isn’t he? I mean, yeah he’s evil, but don’t you… not want to fight him cause he’s your dad?”

Sokka wants to shout that Ozai is the worst father that ever existed and Zuko has every right to want him dead as much as anyone else, but he doesn’t. Zuko looks contemplative. 

“Sort of?” He says and suspicion slides back over Katara’s face immediately.

“But he’s not really much of a father to me. He’s not really… much different as a father than he is to the rest of the world.”

He sounds small and resigned as he says it and Sokka remembers that night in Zuko’s cell _I just wanted him to be my father. I just wanted him to love me and to be proud of me and it was always out of reach._ He curls a protective hug around Zuko’s shoulders and he can feel the way the firebender is shaking slightly. 

“Hey guys,” Sokka interrupts quietly, “I know there’s a lot for us to talk about, but it’s been kinda a long trip for us, and… Zuko’s still pretty hurt…” he looks pleadingly towards Katara hoping she’ll offer. 

Before she can say a thing, however, Zuko seems to see what Sokka is hoping for and interrupts, “I would appreciate if we could continue this in the morning. A full night of sleep will do me good.” he sounds every bit a prince in that moment, collected and reasonable and as if he isn’t slumped against someone else with a long list of injuries because he can’t bear to sit up under his own strength. 

In a silent conversation between blue and gold eyes, Zuko urges him not to make the request of Katara to heal him, but Sokka is perfectly willing, after days of worrying over Zuko’s illness and malnourishment and injuries, to sacrifice a small bit of his pride for the sake of seeing him healthy. 

“Katara, I think some of his ribs are cracked and I had to reset his shoulder earlier. Could you…?”

Katara still looks guarded, but sympathetic enough. She nods once and steps around the fire to where Sokka holds Zuko and opens the waterskin at her hip.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Again, sorry for the wait! I am going to commit right now to having the next chapter up by Monday. Anyways, not entirely sure how I feel about this chapter, felt like the chapter break was not in the smoothest place, but V(^_^)V let me know what you thought, I always love hearing from you guys<3


	17. In This House We Respect Katara's Overbearing Motherly-ness Cause Goddamn Someone Has to Have Some Survival Instincts Around Here

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> No this is not the last chapter. I keep telling the characters to wrap it up and they just keep complicating things. We are nearing the end, but I can't tell you a number cause clearly I suck at that. Also sorry for the lateness cause first my computer wasn't working and then I got a cat who does not like me typing. I blame any and all typos in this chapter on her.

Zuko, still supported in Sokka’s arms, lets Katara place her hands on his chest and guide his ribs gently back to their place and encourage the flesh surrounding them to knit back together. He seems unable to restrain a sigh of relief as her healing does its work and it doesn’t take long before his eyes drift closed and his body lets go of the remaining tension as he surrenders to sleep curled into Sokka’s chest. 

Katara sighs once she’s done what she can. She hadn’t expected the firebender to be quite so injured as he was and, if she’s being honest, it’s harder to resent him now that she’s seen the damage he suffered. She feels conflicted. Is it wrong for her to still dislike him? He’s made their lives so much harder over the past several months that it’s hard to forgive him. It’s more than that too. He represents a lot more to her than just himself. He’s _Fire Nation._ He’s the enemy. He always has been and she’s a little scared of what she’ll have left if she gives up that hatred. 

But he’s also… a boy. He’s not much older than Sokka and now that she’s seeing him with his hair down and messy, dark circles under his eyes, dressed in simple prison garb rather than armor, it’s hard to believe it’s that simple. 

“So…” Katara scrubs a hand over her face, “we’re supposed to just trust him because he has daddy issues?” It comes out sounding more bitter than she means it, but she’s still at a loss as to how Sokka decided to trust this guy so completely over the course of just a few days after being chased by him for months.

Sokka doesn’t rise to the bait though, just gives her a slight glare that tells her she’s really underselling it. Eventually, he shifts and begins speaking in a whisper over the mess of Zuko’s black hair where his head is slumped against Sokka’s chin. 

“Look, Katara, I get it. He was our enemy for a long time, but… look, it’s not really my place to tell the whole story, but capturing Aang was the only way he could go home. He was banished three years ago Katara. Like, he hadn’t been home in three years, and capturing the avatar was kinda his last shot at it. I don’t know about you, but I’m not sure I would have done differently in his place.”

“If he’s so desperate to go home what makes him so trustworthy now? How do you know this isn’t some sort of trap?”

“He went home. When Azula shot Aang and they thought he was dead. That’s when he realized how wrong he was.”

Katara’s doubt must show on her face because Sokka sighs heavily looking around to where everyone else is preparing to go to sleep for the night. 

“Look, can we continue this in the morning? Zuko needs some good rest and I could use some sleep too.”

Katara looks at the sleeping firebender. As peaceful as he looks right now, she knows that enemy or not, he is undoubtedly dangerous. More so now that she’s just healed him. 

“Sokka, I trust you and I’m willing to consider giving him a chance, but I’m not ready to let him sleep twenty feet from Aang, newly healed, unrestrained… I know you say he’s changed, but I have to look out for my family and up until now, he’s only ever been a threat.”

There’s a hard note of finality in her voice. It wouldn’t be difficult; Toph could strip some metal from the airship they had arrived on and bend it into cuffs without much trouble. He’d still be more free to move around than she’d actually like, but it would at least ease some of her worries. When she looks back to Sokka from analyzing the ship and seeking out Toph, however, he looks entirely opposed to her completely reasonable idea.

“Oh sure, he’s only spent the last weeks in prison and risked his life to help me break dad and Suki out, but sure we’ll lock him up like none of that matters and he’s still a fucking prisoner, right?”

“Sokka it’s just until we can be sure. You might believe him, but him saying he had a fight with his dad isn’t really enough to convince me to forget months of him chasing us around the world, putting all of us in danger, and not to mention trying to capture Aang who just happens to be the world’s last hope!”

The firebender twitches on Sokka’s lap and Katara realizes that she is definitely no longer speaking in a whisper. 

“Sokka?” Zuko rasps, his eyes blinking tiredly. He looks back and forth between Katara and her brother for a few seconds. “What’s wrong?”

Sokka doesn’t say anything, so Katara cuts in. “I suggested that bringing you here, trusting you unconditionally, having me heal you, and then letting you sleep in the same room as the avatar unrestrained might be a bit _too_ trusting. Sokka didn’t like my suggestion that we take some precautions.” 

Zuko’s eyes widen unevenly at the idea that he might spend the night chained up, but Katara hardly cares. His youth and upbringing might make her a bit more sympathetic, but can’t Sokka see that instantly trusting him and taking no precautions would be completely irresponsible? They can’t let Aang get captured to spare the firebender’s feelings. 

Toph chooses that moment to interrupt by spitting into the still smoldering fire causing the saliva to hiss as it comes into contact with one of the logs. 

“Hey, sparky. Yeah, that’s you Zuko. You planning on making off with Aang in the middle of the night or otherwise double-crossing us?”

“No! Of course not!”

“He’s not lying. Problem solved. Goodnight, I’m going to bed,” Toph declares and with that, she gives a stomp and a slab of stone rises up and she flops down onto it as if it’s the softest mattress in the world. 

Katara wants to believe Toph’s assessment, but she hadn’t been able to tell with Azula either and Zuko had been pretty convincing in the catacombs back in Ba Sing Se. Sokka’s looking at her hopefully, but she shakes her head resolutely. 

Toph rolls her eyes and Katara takes a moment to wonder how Toph even knows that that’s a thing and much less how to do it before Zuko shifts off of Sokka’s lap to turn to face him. 

“I told you I’d rather be your prisoner than theirs, back at Boiling Rock, and this isn’t… it’s okay. And it’s just temporary, right?”

After that, it’s hard for Sokka to defend his insistence that he not be chained up. Even though Suki and Hakoda take his side, if Zuko himself is willing to deal with it, there’s not too much the others can do to argue against it. So, with much grumbling, Toph pulls a piece of hard steel from the airship and begins shaping it into a pair of shackles with a short uneven chain. 

When she’s finished with the overall shape of them she approaches Zuko where he’s once again curled up against Sokka. Seriously from the amount of physical contact between these two you’d think they were boyfriends or something. She moves to shape the metal around Zuko’s outstretched wrists, but Sokka’s hand stops her. His heart is racing as much as Zuko’s is. 

She sighs, “Sokka, I just want to go to sleep, your boyfriend will be fine.”

He doesn’t move his hand. 

It’s one night and Toph’s tired and Katara isn’t going to let up because she’s protective and overbearing and _that’s fine._ And it’s surely saved their lives enough times to be fully justified, but she really couldn’t care less if the ex-prince is chained up or not, she just wants to sleep. 

Zuko just sits there with his hands out not moving just waiting for everyone else to decide what to do with him and Sokka makes a little hurt noise like he’s the one being chained up. Toph lets out a huff and grabs Sokka’s wrist, one of the bands of metal wraps around his arm and the other follows around Zuko’s opposite hand. There. Now Sokka can gripe all he wants and she can go to bed. 

She turns around relishing the shocked stillness of everyone else. 

“Toph!” 

Katara’s shrill voice cuts through the silence and Toph pulls the ground up around her into a four-walled tent so Katara can’t drag her out and make her fix it and then she slumps back on the ground and closes her eyes. 

“Goodnight, sweet dreams everyone!” she yells and then promptly ignores everything anyone else is shouting.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you liked! I have no idea why we're throwing this random handcuffed together trope in at the last minute it just happened. V(^_^)V feel free to yell at me in the comments<3


	18. Zuko Thinks About Some Things and Sokka is an Unconscious but Supportive Bean

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Writing has been hard recently so apologies for this taking I think the longest any of my chapters have taken to get out. I will update next weekend if not earlier:)

Zuko stares at his chained wrist in disbelief as the young earthbender disappears into a tent made of several stone slabs that she bends into a shelter around herself. He hears her cheerfully shout goodnight and finally drags his dumbfounded stare from his own wrist to Sokka’s face just as Sokka is dragging his own stare in the same pattern from his arm to Zuko’s face. 

Sokka blinks.

Zuko blinks. 

Sokka looks from his wrist to Zuko’s and back again.

Zuko watches Sokka look between their linked wrists. 

Sokka meets Zuko’s eyes again. 

Zuko blinks. 

Sokka looks at the sky through the open structure of the temple.

He looks back to where Toph is encased in her four walls of stone.

“Fuck you Toph!”

And then, as if the matter is settled and there’s nothing more to discuss, he grabs Zuko’s hand in his own and drags him gently to gather a blanket from the supplies Hakoda and Suki had brought off the airship and then back to a rolled sleeping bag near the others which he awkwardly undoes the clasps on and shakes out flat using only his unchained arm. 

It’s not until Sokka gently tugs him down to the sleeping bag with him that Zuko realizes that they’re actually going to sleep like this. Whatever Katara was shouting at the earthbender minutes ago has since quieted, and besides the initial protests from Hakoda and Suki that he didn’t need to be chained up, they haven’t commented on this new development. Even Sokka had only shouted out a single “fuck you” and Zuko himself had just stared dumbly and let Sokka drag him around making up a bed for them. 

He flushes deeply though he’s not really sure why.

“Sorry,” he mumbles as he sinks to the padded sleeping bag next to Sokka. 

Sokka lets out a tired chuckle, “don’t worry, it’s not your fault. Toph thinks she’s funny but she doesn’t have anything against you really. And Katara will warm up to you, she just needs a little more time. Aang might be a little too ready to trust you if we’re being honest, but hey that works in our favor since… ya know… you’re trustworthy now…” he trails off with an apologetic shrug. 

Zuko’s not really sure what to say to that. He had meant ‘sorry for getting you handcuffed to me for the night and condemning you to an inevitably awkward and physically uncomfortable night of sleep’ but Sokka seemed completely unbothered by the inconvenience to himself and instead only concerned with Zuko being… accepted by the group? 

“Well… sorry about…” he gestures to their linked hands with his free one. 

“Oh,” Sokka chuckles and moves to rub the back of his neck unthinkingly, dragging Zuko’s hand along. He laughs again and shrugs, “it’s not like it’s your fault Toph is a little shit. Besides, I’m pretty sure this is still going to be more comfortable than the last few nights.”

Zuko shrugs but lets Sokka push him gently to lay down on the surprisingly comfortable sleeping bag. Sokka maneuvers his chained arm around Zuko’s body until he’s practically embracing him with his chest pressed against Zuko’s back and his top arm curling around Zuko’s shoulders to where it’s chained to Zuko’s bottom arm. 

“You comfortable?” Sokka whispers and Zuko nods. They’re pressed so close that Sokka wouldn’t even need to have his eyes open to understand the gesture. 

Sokka seems satisfied and it’s only a few minutes before Zuko hears his breathing even and slow in a way that can only mean he’s drifted to sleep. Despite being warm and comfortable and safe for the first time in too long, Zuko can’t seem to stop his thoughts from whirling. Although he knows it will do his body good to sleep some more and that he’s not fully caught up from the sleepless and restless nights at Boiling Rock, he’s napped too recently to truly feel tired. 

He thinks about Sokka. Everything about the boy feels so comfortable it’s hard to believe they’ve only known each other, really known each other, as anything but enemies, for only a handful of days. He tries to remember what he thought of him before and it feels like he’s reaching into an empty bag or tripping over a last step that he didn’t realize was at the end of a descending staircase. There’s just nothing where it feels like there should be so much. 

It makes Zuko’s head hurt a little, but the feeling itself isn’t entirely foreign. He remembers in Ba Sing Se when he had accepted a bowl of jook from Uncle the day he had recovered from his sickness. It had felt that day like everything was new. The tea shop was exciting if only for the reason that it made his uncle happy, the tea his uncle had offered him had tasted so much better than it regularly did, and the jook had been comforting and warm. That night he had laid in bed and thought about things. About how the tea hadn’t actually tasted different it had tasted the same just… like he had actually allowed himself to taste it. Like how he used to before everything had gone wrong. 

Sokka was another one of those things he hadn’t let himself feel for too long. The vulnerability and openness and protection and trust and intimacy that had been off-limits territory for the past three years was nice. It was nice and a little painful because now that he was feeling it again he was realizing how much he had been missing out on. 

Zuko finds himself pulled from his thoughts by a quite literal pull of Sokka’s arm around his chest as he mumbled something in his sleep and burrowed his face in Zuko’s hair. Zuko lets out an embarrassing squeak and hears a chuckle from one of the others across the makeshift sleeping area. He thinks it might be Katara, but he’s not sure. For several seconds he’s tense and flushing but when Sokka murmurs another ambiguous sleepy statement into his neck Zuko finds himself relaxing and letting out a short chuckle of his own. 

Zuko’s not sure if Sokka says anything else or if the other voice laughs at them anymore as sleep closes in on him rapidly without any prelude of tiredness.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There we have it, some reflections by Zuko and some incoherent mumbling by Sokka:) Let me know what you thought I always love hearing from you guys:D


	19. Fun Talks Continue

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here you go! The gaang learns more about What Is Up:D

Zuko wakes early the next morning to see the first rays of sun cresting over the horizon through the large open doorways of the temple. He feels well-rested for the first time in what feels like forever and unlike the past several days, his memories aren’t out of reach when he first wakes up. There’s no shock or wave of remembering the past night, just an easy recognition of his surroundings. Even the metal of the handcuff still pinning his wrist to Sokka’s isn’t a surprise and he navigates carefully to sit up without disturbing the other boy. 

Zuko stretches out, stiff limbs groaning at the range of motion that Katara had managed to restore the previous night. Certain joints still feel tender, but Zuko feels better than he has since his confrontation with his father. He makes a pleased sound at being able to twist his torso without incurring a stabbing pain in his chest from bruised and fractured ribs. He twists far enough around to see that the avatar is also awake, looking at him curiously. 

Zuko’s not sure what to say to the young boy, so he nods awkwardly and returns to his methodical stretching to avoid the pressure of confrontation. Despite Zuko’s expectation that Aang was some sort of leader of this group, the kid had hardly talked the night before besides trying to keep Sokka, Katara, and the earthbender girl from shouting so much. His efforts had been wasted, but Zuko figures that it can’t be a bad sign that the kid was only trying to keep the peace. 

It’s several minutes later that Zuko feels rather than hears the airbender approaching him, his footsteps are nearly silent, and Zuko straightens up as the airbender circles around to sit on the ground near the foot of Zuko and Sokka’s shared sleeping mat. 

“Sorry, were you meditating?” the airbender whispers after taking in Zuko’s posture.

“Uhh no, I was just… thinking,” Zuko whispers back trying not to wake Sokka.

“Oh. Do you meditate?” the kid asks, head tilted like it’s a particularly complex puzzle and not just a simple yes or no question.

“Uh yeah I do… firebending takes a lot of focus. I need the meditation to keep myself balanced.”

“Oh. Yeah, that’s what Jeong Jeong said.”

Zuko’s not sure where this conversation is leading and it’s making him nervous and twitchy. 

“The airbenders used meditation too.”

Zuko’s stomach drops for a moment and he’s not entirely sure if it’s because the airbenders are gone or because it’s his nation’s fault that they are gone. The fact that the airbenders are gone has just been the way it was for all of Zuko’s life, something in a way detached and distant, but it’s not distant now, with the airbender kid sitting on the floor of the temple next to him. For a moment his mouth just opens and shuts without his permission. 

“I’m sorry.” is what he finally manages to choke out. 

The airbender sighs, “I didn’t mean… that. I just meant you know… we have that in common I guess.”

“Oh,” Zuko wasn’t expecting that. 

The silence stretches, it’s not long but it feels like it is. Eventually, Sokka moves in his sleep, grumbling something and throwing his chained wrist over his head dragging Zuko’s arm with it. It seems to break some of the tension and the airbender giggles before rising to his feet. He smiles brightly at Zuko. 

“Toph should be up pretty early today. She’s supposed to train with me this morning. That way she can get rid of that. I can’t metalbend like her.” 

The airbender retreats leaving Zuko to awkwardly navigate both his and Sokka’s arms back to a more comfortable position while trying not to wake Sokka with the movement. 

***

By the time Sokka wakes, it seems that everyone else is already up. His father is tending to the fire where steam is rising from a pot of what must be breakfast while Katara sits nearby on the edge of the fountain with a contemplative look on her face. Suki is chatting with Aang while Toph is making pebbles move across the ground where Momo is watching them with startled fascination occasionally chasing them around. Zuko is lounging still on the sleeping bag next to him, an expression of bemusement passing over his face at Sokka’s bleariness. 

Sokka sits up with a yawn and, forgetting that his hand is chained to Zuko’s, manages to yank the firebender to fall over into his lap. 

“Whoops sorry,” he says as Zuko glares at him without any real heat behind it, then much more loudly, “Toph get your ass over here!”

Then he remembers that his dad is there and maybe he shouldn’t be swearing at 12-year-olds. Oh well, too late now. 

Toph sighs, but does in fact come over to let the metal turn to putty in her hands.

When breakfast is ready, a mix of wild rice and dehydrated fruits they had scavenged from the airship they had returned on, they settle around the fire, and bowls are distributed. Sokka waits for someone to break the calm, bring them back to the conversation they had left off on the night before. 

***

Zuko picks at his food without much interest. Now that he’s healed and well-rested, the hunger that’s been plaguing him feels less intense. His nerves are turning his stomach anyways. 

“So. I believe you were explaining why we should trust that you’re actually willing to turn against your dad…” Katara sounds a little hesitant, maybe even apologetic.

Zuko stirs the rice around in his bowl once more taking a moment to decide the best way to explain it. He’s not looking for sympathy, but he has a feeling that any real explanation to this group will invoke some. 

“He’s always been terrible to me, it just took me a long time to realize that I deserved better… that it was wrong what he was doing.”

He knows that’s a vague explanation and he can see the questions on the faces around the fire. 

“He wanted to kill me when I was just born. My mother stopped him, but he said I didn’t have the spark, that I wasn’t going to be a bender, so he wanted to kill me, to try again for a more worthy heir.”

Their faces are horrified, but if Zuko’s being honest the idea that his father wanted to kill him when he was just a baby seems less significant than all the other times his father intended to kill him. The times Zuko remembers. 

“My mother disappeared after the second time when Azula told me he was going to kill me. I don’t know what happened to her.”

His eyes sting. He can see Katara’s face filled with sympathy at the loss of his mother. He’s sure she held it against him after Ba Sing Se, but he’s not done with his albeit minimal explanations.

“The reason I was chasing you was never really about capturing the avatar. I… my father banished me three years ago. He burned me and banished me and I couldn’t come home unless I captured a legend who hadn’t been seen for over a century.”

He sees eyes widen on the word ‘burned’, watches the way they shift to focus on the left half of his face where the evidence of the truth of his story is. He’s not going to get into the full story right now though. 

“But… banishing me was maybe actually the best thing my father could have done for me. I spent three years safe from him, with my uncle. We traveled all over searching for the avatar and… I saw the truth of what the war was doing to the world. In the Fire Nation, we were taught that the war was a way for us to spread our greatness, but… that was a lie.

“I had already started to realize how wrong we were when you returned. I… I just wanted to go home so badly. I’m sorry for everything I put you through and I’m sorry for everything my nation has done I just want to help heal what can be healed and I know my father has to be taken out before anything can get better.”

He meets the wide eyes of each member of the group, his own gaze certain and unwavering.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi guys- heads up updates may be very slow for the next little while. I made the decision to participate in NaNoWriMo this year which, as I'm sure you can imagine, has been sucking up a lot of my writing time that I would normally focus on this fic. That said, I am absolutely not abandoning this! Fear not! I am sorry to test your patience especially this close to the end, but I hope you all understand. If not, feel free to leave your frustrations in the comments. <3<3<3


	20. Toph Once Again Rewrites The Chapter By Doing Something I Didn't Expect

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello all, I am back! I am so sorry for making you all wait so near the end! I ended up participating in (and completing!!!) NaNoWriMo and between that and schoolwork, it was very difficult for me to find the time/motivation to update. For all of you who are still reading, thank you so much for sticking with me even through this month-long dry spell, I will be updating regularly for the last couple of chapters!

Aang is the first to speak when Zuko has finished explaining his change of heart. His eyes are wide and way too young for all of the responsibility on his shoulders. Zuko feels the ever-present guilt rising up in his chest again at the thought of everything he had put this literal child through.

“You mean, your dad did that to you?” He gestures to Zuko’s left although the clarification is unnecessary. The entire group is still either staring fixedly at the left side of his face or very purposefully avoiding it. 

“Did what to him?”

Scratch that. Everyone is either staring fixedly at his scar or very intentionally avoiding it except for Toph, whose glassy eyes aren’t directed at anything in particular. For a split second, before he remembers her blindness, he thinks she’s making a joke at his expense and he feels his cheeks heat in embarrassment. 

He’s not ashamed of his scar, he knows what he did was right, but that doesn’t make it any less ugly to look at. 

He mournfully realizes that Toph is probably the only one to talk to him in just over three years for whom his scar hasn’t been his most prominent defining feature. 

Everyone, even Sokka, looks uncomfortable at the prospect of explaining about his scar to Toph, so Zuko sighs. 

“My dad burned me pretty badly before I was banished. It left a pretty nasty scar on my face.”

“Huh,” Toph looks thoughtful like she’s puzzling something out in her mind, “scar’s don’t make a whole lot of sense you know.”

Zuko has no idea what she means and apparently the others don’t ‘know’ either. Luckily she continues before anyone has to ask.

“Like, how is an injury still visible after it’s healed? I don’t get it.”

Katara stretches her feet out toward the fire, lounging back against the ground, “the injury might be healed, but if it caused enough damage to the skin, the skin is still going to show that damage after it heals.”

“But there’s no damage after it’s healed. Isn’t that the whole point of healing?”

Toph is getting annoyed and she makes it obvious in her voice. 

Katara rolls her eyes, “okay but the skin can still show that the damage existed. Scars tend to be discolored--”

“Oh colors, yeah that makes so much sense, thanks for clearing that up.” Toph’s voice is dripping with sarcasm and Zuko watches in fascination as she too rolls her eyes. Who taught a blind twelve-year-old how to roll her eyes?

“They also feel different,” Aang chimes in, “you can feel the one on my chest if you want!”

Without reservation, the airbender pulls the loose fabric covering his chest away and over his shoulder to reveal a starburst shaped scar where Azula’s lightning had collided with his body. 

Toph shrugs and spreads her hand across Aang’s chest. It’s a weird moment, but neither Aang nor Toph seems to find it awkward, so Zuko picks at a loose thread on his tunic while Toph feels the edges of the scar and compares it to the surrounding smooth skin. None of the others seem to find it odd and Zuko concludes that the group must just be that close. Imagining himself as part of the group becomes suddenly more difficult. He can’t imagine ever being that comfortable with touch. 

Zuko has barely made sense of his thoughts when Toph gives a satisfied nod and Aang readjusts his clothing. Then she turns toward him. 

“Is yours the same as Twinkletoes’s then?” she asks.

“Uh…” is all Zuko can manage.

“Not quite,” Katara interjects, her healer side apparently having gotten over the awkwardness of addressing Zuko’s scar, “Aang’s is smoother, Zuko’s is really rough, like some of the skin was pretty much melted if that makes sense. Plus, his covers his eye and ear, it’s not just on a flat surface like Aang’s.”

She says all this like it’s a casual assessment, and Zuko’s really not sure how to feel about it. 

No matter how much time passes, Zuko suspects that his scar will always be a bit of a touchy subject. It’s not really something he can hide, but people aren’t normally eager to bring it up, so it’s generally a pretty easy topic to avoid. Their blunt discussion feels out of his depth. 

“Can I feel?” Toph asks.

Zuko feels the blood drain from his face. He had thought he was in the clear when Aang volunteered his own scar, but apparently not. The thought of letting her touch it makes every nerve in his body scream, but he nods anyway. Everyone else has seen it, it doesn’t seem fair that Toph shouldn’t know. 

“Uh, yeah that’s fine, you can.”

Zuko can feel Sokka’s concerned eyes on him, but it’s easy to pretend he doesn’t. Sokka is sitting on his blind side anyway. 

Toph tilts her head at him with a bored expression on her face. 

“If you don’t want me to you can just say that instead of saying it’s fine while internally holding back a panic attack over it. I’m not gonna just touch your face if you’re not cool with it especially, ya know. Being burned by your dad was probably kinda traumatic or whatever.”

She doesn’t move forward to touch his scar and admittedly it takes a minute for her words to fully process. Zuko remembers that she can supposedly tell when people are lying and wonders if it’s the same way she could tell he was freaking out. He nods at her, slight embarrassment coloring his cheeks, but mostly overridden by relief. 

“I can’t believe anyone would do that to their own kid,” the avatar mumbles, looking upset. 

“I’m not lying!” Zuko shouts defensively.

“No, I believe you, it’s just… hard to imagine someone doing that to their own kid. Like trying to picture Hakoda hurting either of you guys,” he gestures to Katara and Sokka, “it’s just impossible to imagine.”

“Yeah, well my dad and Chief Hakoda don’t really seem to have a whole lot in common.” 

Sokka lets out a snort to his left and Zuko feels the calloused hands of the young warrior bump against his own before his long fingers force their way between Zuko’s until their hands are entwined together. 

Zuko hardly thinks of it. Sokka’s hand in his is calming. Even in such a short time, his presence has become familiar and comforting to Zuko. He squeezes Sokka’s hand lightly in a meaningless gesture before he realizes Katara’s gaze fixed on the point of contact. Aang is eyeing their clasped hands with the same innocent curiosity that he seems to approach everything with, and even Toph has pointed her toes in their direction, eyebrows slightly raised, a small smirk playing at her lips. 

As if Zuko hasn’t done enough explaining today.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There we have it, conversations with the gaang are... well still ongoing I suppose. I love Toph feeling Zuko's scar as much as the next person and really was going to include it, but as I've already mentioned, Toph somehow became a co-writer instead of just a character. She doesn't do what I tell her and she didn't want Zuko to feel uncomfortable or like he was pressured into anything. 
> 
> Next chapter will be up on Monday and thank you all so much for sticking with me this long, it seriously means so much to feel like this work is appreciated <3


	21. Real Talk and a Little Shovel Talk

Sokka doesn’t notice the raised eyebrows and skeptical curiosity painted across Aang, Katara, and Toph’s faces until Zuko tugs at his hand. He’s not entirely certain if the firebender is attempting to pull his hand out of Sokka’s grasp or merely get his attention, but Sokka keeps their fingers loosely intertwined and glances questioningly at Zuko’s face. He looks stressed, but then, in the range of how stressed Sokka has seen Zuko be, this is relatively low. 

Granted maybe a prison escape and multiple battles aren’t the best gauge for stress reactions. 

Sokka lets a silent question pass between him and Zuko, trying to convey his concern and his confusion with his eyes. Zuko meets his gaze but hurriedly looks back to the others seated around the fire, cheeks pink. 

Oh, right. He’s holding Zuko’s hand. In a clearly more-than-allies gesture that has just been seen by Toph, grinning slightly maniacally, Aang, seeming to take this with the least amount of difficulty and smiling encouragingly towards them clearly waiting for an explanation, and Katara who, well, looks like she’s swallowed something bitter but is trying her best not to insult the cook by acknowledging the terrible flavor. 

There’s a part of him that just doesn’t want to acknowledge it, leave the rest of the group with no explanation and just let them figure it out without having to actually discuss it. There’s a part of him that wants to, but in this group, that’s not really an option. Not a single one of them is going to be too cautious or polite to confront them and if he doesn’t just offer his answers, they’re going to pelt him with way more questions than if he just gives them what he wants. 

“Oh yeah,” Sokka says as though he’s just remembered, maybe if he plays it off super casual he can trick everyone else into not making a big deal about it. “Zuko and me kinda…” he holds up their linked hands, watching Zuko’s face grow pinker every second. 

Sokka hears Suki stifling laughter from beside him and offers her a halfhearted glare which she shrugs off helplessly dissolving back into giggles as the silence continues. 

“You and Zuko kinda what exactly?” Katara finally asks, her voice is sweet, but in the way that Sokka knows means she’s faking. At least she’s making an effort he supposes. 

“We, uh,” he looks to Zuko for confirmation, but the firebender looks helplessly lost. Looks like this one’s on Sokka by himself, “we’re together.” The words linger over the quiet crackling of the fire as everyone seems to absorb the slightly ambiguous announcement. Sokka sneaks a sideways glance at Zuko to make sure he hadn’t said the wrong thing. It’s not like there had been a whole lot of time to discuss the exact nature of their relationship. 

Zuko’s face is undeniably flushed, every inch of clear skin from the roots of his hair, to the edges of the scar, and disappearing down below the neck of his tunic is pink, but he looks pleased. He’s not smiling, but Sokka thinks that’s only because he’s clearly putting effort into _not_ showing how pleased he is. His mouth twitches again and Sokka relaxes some. He can deal with everyone else’s reactions as long as Zuko’s there to blush and stammer awkwardly through the whole thing. 

Silence lingers following Sokka’s declaration. Zuko shifts his gaze from the hand entangled with Sokka’s to the ground to his knees in a nervous triangle, only occasionally breaking the circuit to glance up at the faces surrounding the fire. Sokka gives the warm hand in his a reassuring squeeze. The group can approve or disapprove of the relationship all they want, they’ve already pretty much admitted that they’re okay with Zuko staying and Sokka has confidence they’ll all come around eventually. 

“Well, I think that’s great,” Aang eventually breaks the silence with a confident smile, “the monks always said that the solution to hate and division was love and unity.” 

Zuko’s face goes from light pink to dark blotchy red in a fascinatingly quick display and Sokka feels his own cheeks heat as well, grateful for his darker complexion which hopefully would keep him from looking as visibly flustered as the firebender. 

Toph snickers. 

“Yeah, uh love is kinda a strong word…” Sokka mumbles at the blatant declaration, not quite willing to dispute it despite the fact that he’s not yet to the point of confirming it. 

“A strong word for a strong emotion,” Aang nods sagely as though that solved it. 

Toph’s giggles accompany a good-natured chuckle from Hakoda as well this time. 

Zuko finally acknowledges the violent blush of his face by burying it entirely into his knees. Sokka sees him turn his head slightly though to peek at him and he thinks Zuko doesn’t mind as much as he’s pretending to. 

“Aaanyway…” Sokka interrupts the muffled laughter from Toph, Suki, and his father. 

He looks to Katara who, despite never passing up an opportunity to tease Sokka, hadn’t joined in the laughter for a second. Aang still looks perfectly content with his assessment of ‘love’, but Katara’s face is marked with the motherly concern that she wears far too often. 

He waits for her to say something, but she only gives him a single nod. 

Well, silent and hesitant acceptance is better than a lot of the reactions she could have had, Sokka will take it. Besides, he’s sure she’ll come around soon enough. Zuko is way too likable once you get to know him. 

Thankfully, after all of the discussions of Zuko’s scar, banishment, the Firelord, and now this seems to have given everyone plenty to think about without questioning them further. Sokka sprawls backward on the ground as his father begins recounting the prison riot they had started at Boiling Rock. Sokka’s pretty sure his father is doing it with the intention of taking the attention off of him and Zuko and he’s grateful for it.

From there conversation shifts and breaks off until Toph drags Aang away for training and Suki heads back to the war balloon to further ransack the supplies stored there. Sokka joins his dad to discuss their plans going forward and although Zuko offers his help, Sokka can see the way his hands are fidgeting and his eyes shift uncomfortably. While Sokka is sure the offer is genuine, he gently suggests Zuko take some time to himself then join them. He’s pretty sure the guy needs a moment or two to collect himself after all the topics of this morning. 

Zuko doesn’t argue and Sokka leaves him to his uncomfortable-looking seiza and meditative breaths. 

***

Zuko isn’t entirely sure how long he’s been meditating when he’s interrupted. The only answer he has is a gut feeling of _not long enough_ although that really doesn't tell him much with the among of meditation that he’s pretty sure it will take to process the past few days in their entirety. He focuses on the sun and estimates that it’s near midafternoon, but he’s uncertain of exactly when he began his meditation, so the information doesn’t help much. 

The small flame that Zuko has been focusing on for the past however long goes out instantly as the voice of the waterbender saying his name breaks through his concentration. He opens his eyes to find her approaching. She looks… not quite angry, but certainly not pleased with him either. 

Zuko rolls carefully to his feet to meet her wincing at the stiffness in his legs. 

“Katara,” he responds cautiously. 

She looks at him thoughtfully, forehead scrunched in a way that makes her look older and more serious. 

“Look, I know Sokka believes we have reason to trust you, but you and I both know you’ve struggled with doing the right thing in the past. I understand now that there were reasons that we didn’t know about, and I’m willing to give you a chance, but know this,” she crowds forward forcing Zuko to take a step back “if you hurt Sokka, you won’t have to worry about your destiny anymore. Because I’ll make sure your destiny ends… right then and there. Permanently.” 

The surprise must show on Zuko’s face. Sure he could understand her worrying about him attacking Aang, or betraying them or whatever, based on their past interactions all of those would be reasonable concerns, but hurting Sokka? No way was that going to happen. 

Katara seems to drink in the startled look on his face for a moment before she holds out her arm. “I’m his sister and I’m not about to let you break his heart,” her forehead has smoothed over once again and Zuko sees the corners of her lips twitch upward. No matter what she says, he thinks she’s okay with him being here. And being with Sokka. He clasps her arm and nods in agreement giving her an uncertain smile as well.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'mma be honest y'all l feel like this story is kinda dragging on at this point, so this will likely be the last chapter even though I'm not totally satisfied with it as a conclusion. If anyone has strong feelings or suggestions pls leave me a comment I am struggling with wrapping this story up in a way that is satisfactory. 
> 
> Anyway, I love you all, thank you so much for reading and for supporting this fic and all of your lovely comments!


	22. In Which this Nightmare is Finally Over and Zuko is Relegated to Sleeping on the Floor in His Own Bedroom

Zuko hurts a little bit everywhere and he stinks of sweat and the almost acidic scent of electricity. His head is pounding and his eyes feel vaguely scorched from the lightning. But even though every part of him feels heavy and painful, he jumps up the second Sokka rounds the corner, limping heavily with one arm slung around his father’s neck the other resting on Toph’s shoulder despite her being too short to offer much in the way of actual support. 

Zuko shoots up from the ground where Katara had been tearfully lecturing him with glowing palms pressed gingerly against the charred skin where Azula’s lightning had struck. Water splashes to the ground and Zuko feels the wound twinge at the sudden movement, but he’s far too relieved to focus on the pain, he lets out a half-choked laugh of relief. He sees Aang rounding the corner, the airbender almost trips, not quite watching his step as he seems to be explaining something to Suki. They’re all here. 

It’s almost more than Zuko could’ve hoped for. All of them are there, limping and scratched up and bruised to hell and overall looking a little worse for wear, but they’re all on their feet, sharing looks of such raw relief that Zuko wants to cry. 

He takes all of this in in a rush of comprehension and then he rushes forward to Sokka everything else fading in comparison to the frantic need to feel him, to know that he’s really there and really okay and just _real_. 

Their embrace is clumsy, between Sokka’s single functioning leg and the remnants of lightning still sparking through Zuko’s nerves causing him to jolt and stumble, they quickly find themselves flat on the ground, letting out identical grunts of pain and then identical apologies. 

Zuko can barely hear anything that anyone is saying over the relief. 

_He’s okay._

_He’s alive._

_All of them are._

Katara eventually pulls him up and Zuko lets her tenderly pull his arms away from her brother as Hakoda helps Sokka to a sitting position as well. 

“You need to be careful, Zuko! Don’t go throwing away all my hard work as a healer!”

Zuko merely sniffs and nods in response, eyes taking in the group once again, they’re all there. 

Katara’s interjection eventually breaks through the bubble of relief, bringing them all back to reality. Sokka finally seems to register the mass of cracked raw skin on Zuko’s chest and demands to know what happened and from there the explanations flow. 

Zuko tells him about the Agni Kai with Azula and Sokka and Toph and Suki recount their horrifying experiences on the war balloons. Aang explains the insane light show they had all seen in the sky, tells them that he _took away Ozai’s bending_ which Zuko is frankly having trouble wrapping his head around. 

When explanations and exclamations have been made, once all of the diplomatic uncertainties have been postponed until tomorrow, once a select few palace guards have been deemed trustworthy to guard Ozai and Azula and a few more to guard Zuko’s room with Hakoda, they finally collapse. 

All of them have become accustomed to sleeping on stone floors by now and Katara flops backward across Zuko’s bed, exhaustion from the healing she had performed throughout the day draining her. She sighs in contentment at the soft bed, and without so much as a goodnight, her breath evens out. Aang sinks to the floor and leans back against the bed next to where Katara’s legs flop over the edge. His eyes slowly sink shut as Momo curls himself in his lap. Toph curls on the bed as well, grumpily tugging the covers from under Katara and punching a pillow into shape before she too begins snoring. 

Suki shares a look with Zuko and Sokka. Despite all of them only being a few years apart in age, they’re the oldest and there are times like this when there’s something of an understanding among them, a protective instinct that surges up whenever the younger half of their group lets their guard down so readily.

“We should get some sleep too,” Sokka finally whispers. 

Suki nods tiredly and moves to the small section of the bed that remains empty. She curls her legs in to avoid Katara’s sideways form. She gives Sokka and Zuko a final smile before fully laying down and letting out a muffled squeak as Toph immediately clings onto her like a baby koala-otter. By now all of them should really be used to the consequences of sleeping within five feet of Toph. They chuckle anyway as Suki resigns herself to being cuddled all night.

Zuko tugs a spare blanket from a chest at the foot of the bed to spread over him and Sokka as they lie on the rug. Something in Zuko’s chest feels warm at the way the others had immediately taken over his bed without so much as offering it to him. He knows they aren’t trying to be inconsiderate, and besides, the rug is still softer than anything he or Sokka have slept on for quite a while. The idea that they’re all just so _comfortable_ here, with him, makes him feel all sorts of soft and mushy inside. 

Hopefully, that’s all it is, otherwise, Katara’s going to have a fit the next time she goes to heal him. 

Sokka’s hand grazes against Zuko’s jaw and Zuko tilts his head up to look into his eyes.

Bright blue eyes. He’s beautiful. Zuko thinks of his eyes the first time he saw them, contrasted startlingly with the white and grey of war paint. He thinks of them flashing angrily in the Fire Temple as they’d found themselves bound to opposite pillars. He remembers the surprise of seeing the same eyes against a different pattern of war paint on Kyoshi. He remembers seeing them through the helmet of a guard at Boiling Rock, the split-second questioning of his own sanity. Now he watches as the blue eyes begin to blink slower and slower until eventually the hand rubbing circles against his jaw stills and the eyes flutter closed. Zuko thinks of watching them open blearily in the morning and lets himself sink into blissful sleep as well.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And there we have it, a fluffy little epilogue to wrap things up. I hope all of you enjoyed this work as much as I enjoyed writing it. Thank you so much for sticking with me through all of the cliffhanger endings and unreliable update schedules. I have appreciated all of your guys' comments and encouragement and ideas so much you have no idea (even if I kinda suck at responding to comments sometimes)!

**Author's Note:**

> PSA do not try to reset dislocated shoulders (or anything) at home! For purposes of this fic I am simplifying that process and assuming that it works out fine, but seriously you can make an injury so much worse by trying to do that yourself or having a non medical professional do it! Stay safe loves <3


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